It all Started with a Dance
by Gummybear.Michaelis
Summary: A birthday, a strip club and lots of unexpected steamy situations were few of the many things that Ori Ri encountered the night of her birthday. Little did she or anyone know, that very night would change her life! AU. Fem!Ori Fem!Bilbo. Strippers, dancing and more. Please read and let me know what you think. Go on, don't be scared!
1. Birthday panning, Unexpected surprises

_**WARNINGS!**_

 _ **This fanfic is AU (extremely so), so ye be warned. Ori is a female, so is Bilbo. This is kinda (ok, ok, A LOT!) slashy, pairings will be made clear up ahead, so chills.**_

Anyway, enjoy and if you're almost ending the semester (like me) never fear. Crawl your way to the end!

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Chapter one: _Birthday Planning and Unexpected Surprises_

Ori Ri and her friend Bella Baggins were going to a strip club.

Now, don't you give me scandalous gasps and shit, because yes; it is pretty weird. I mean come on, two bookish girls (nerds, the two of them really) going to a strip club on their own? No. Actually, this was not their plan. They wanted to quietly celebrate Ori's birthday in a—oh I don't know, café or somewhere quiet, but Bella's boyfriend had another idea.

Erm…yes. So before we continue this interesting tale, let us clarify that although similar, Ori and Bella were completely different.

Bella Baggins was a very beautiful girl, a curvy short woman who had an amazing mane of curls falling down her back. She had hazel colored eyes that weren't quite green, blue, yellow or grey…They were intense, in a way, framed by incredibly long lashes. She had a pretty dimpled smile and she like to laugh a lot. Her lips were slightly on the full side and of a pretty pink color. And although a bit awkward a first, Bella was a social butterfly in the making. She loved to meet new people and listen to their interesting tales, quite an adventurous lass.

On the contrary, Ori Ri was an incredibly shy girl. And her shyness stemmed from her insecurities. Now, don't get me wrong. Ori Ri was a stunningly cute girl. She had short ginger hair with warm brown eyes framed by dark lashes. Her lips were of a lovely pale pink color and although she didn't smile much, her smile brightened the whole room and her laugh was sort of similar to the sound of bells. Ori loved books and the knowledge they could give her over talking with people. She loved to write and draw and simply observe everything that surrounded her.

So it was quite a wonder how those two got to be the best of friends.

"You guys should come to the club, it'll be fun!" Thorin Oakenshield said to the two of them a couple of days before Ori's birthday.

Bella's eyes had widened slightly and her cheeks reddened as Ori was left to wonder what she had missed. Ori decided to voice her question, "Club? What club?"

"I-It's the club Thorin works at. You…you remember what we talked about?" Bella answered, her cheeks dusted a pretty pink.

It took a few moments for Ori to come to the realization and when she did, she sputtered, flushed and squeaked as her nerves took the best of her. Her brown eyes widened as she floundered for something to say. "A-a-a-a st-st-strip club!?" Ori managed to squeak out. "You want us to go to a-to a place like that?"

Thorin chuckled, the sound like melted smooth chocolate. -"Yes, I do Ori. C'mon, you won't even have to pay a thing. I work there, you know? I promise you'll have fun and I won't let anyone bother you or anything. So what do you say?"-

Ori tore his gaze away from Thorin because, damn it! The dude worked at a strip club. Bella's boyfriend worked at a strip club and she seemed to be okay with it. Hell, she seemed to get turned on by the idea! And Ori couldn't find her within herself to blame her because just imagine what that man was hiding underneath those trousers! I mean, shirt, Ori meant shirt! Bella was looking at her with wide and hopeful eyes and that was when Ori realized—that damn, Bella wants to go and see her boyfriend in action. Oh geez, Bella why! Ori tried to give Bella what she hoped was a firm look but it was met with The Killer Puppy Look.

Ori tried to resist it, she really did. But she was lost when her supposed best friend stuck her lip out in a pout and started to tremble it. Damn, Ori knew she shouldn't be that weak to a simple puppy look, even her brothers use it against her sometimes!

The ginger gave a resigned sigh as Bella all but whopped in joy.

-"Then it's settled!"- Thorin said, clapping his hand with a smile on his face. And Ori groaned out loud, her face in her hands. She felt a strong hand fall on her shoulder. -"Ahh, c'mon Ori. It's going to be fun, trust me."-

-"Sure…I trust you alright."- Ori replied sarcastically. Thorin simply laughed.

-"Well, be there at eight pm sharp, okay?"-

-"Of course, Thorin! We'll be there. Yes."- Bella said eagerly, her pretty face split wide into a grin, as she walked her boyfriend to the door and proceeded to say her goodbyes.

A couple of minutes passed and Bella came back, sitting down beside a still silent Ori. Bella laughed in amusement as she patted her friend's shoulder. -"Come now Ori, don't tell me you are not excited! It'll be fine, you'll see. And who knows, you might even find your One."-

Groaning again, Ori looked up from her hands. -"Right. Of course. Sure."-

-"What is wrong?"- Bella asked, picking up on her friends' mood instantly.

Shrugging, Ori ran a hand through her short hair, messing it up. She took a deep breath and proceeded to look at Bella squarely in the eye. -"I—I am not like you…I am not pretty or fun or—or even attractive. How can I find my one if I am not pretty enough?"-

-"Oh Ori."- Bella said with a sad smile on her face. She threw one of her arms on her shorter friend's shoulder and sighed softly. Bella knew of Ori's insecurities, most of them caused because of the bullying she suffered when a kid and she wished them gone. She knew that Ori was suffering because of them and it angered her to see her strong, beautiful and brave friend like that. Ori was a very beautiful girl with many, many qualities that would make any man—or woman—go crazy for her, but she just couldn't see it. Bella was hoping, really hoping, that she could find her one. Maybe then that person will start to show her just how much of a treasure she really was.

She had a good feeling though. And so Bella was going to hope and do everything she could to make her friend look the best she possibly could.

* * *

The day of Ori's birthday had come quickly after that and the two friends were incredibly nervous. Bella, insisting that they should prepare beforehand, took (dragged really) her friend to the mall and bought her some clothes, shoes and accessories (all the while insisting that Ori needed them for tonight). Bella then dragged her to her apartment, forced her into the bathroom, forced her to wear her pajamas, made her hair, put make up on her and did her nails without even listening to any of Ori's complaints. When done, Bella pretty much demanded Ori to change into the clothes Bella had brought her and, not wanting to incite the wrath of the demon she had for a friend, did as told.

Satisfied with her work, Bella quickly went to prepare herself. Thankfully enough, Bella was a master at all these things and finished her makeup and hair at 7:30. Practically vibrating with excitement, Bella Baggins grabbed her car keys and dragged her quiet friend to the car, driving the two of them to a fancy looking bar. The two got out and entered, one smiling eagerly and the other twisting her hands in nervousness. As soon as the door closed behind them, everyone turned to stare at them because, they made a stunning view.

Ori was dressed in tight leather pants that hugged her legs seductively and a bone white colored shirt, a style similar to a poet's shirt, hanging from her shoulders. Her ginger red hair had a windblown look to it, making her hair look messy but classy. She wore a pair of slightly heeled boots that went up to her ankles. Her makeup was simple, just a touch of mascara, liner and some bright red lipstick and she was done.

Bella, on the other hand, was wearing a pretty flowered dress. Her hair was down and flowing freely down her back and her eyes were decorated simply, with some liner and mascara. She was wearing some cream colored socks that reached up to her lower thigh and a pair of brown colored heeled boots.

Thorin Oakenshield spotted them, his stoic face brightening into a pleased smile. He walked towards the two and Ori simply looked away. The dark haired man was wearing incredibly tight pants that left nothing—and when I say nothing I mean just that—to the imagination and an equally tight black shirt. His hair, usually tied back at the nape of his neck with a leather band, was let loose. He looked good, very good if the way Bella was eyeing him was any indication. He greeted his girlfriend with a very passionate kiss and then he turned to Ori.

-"Hello Ori, happy birthday!"- he proceeded to give her a hug. And oh my gosh, Ori wanted to die from embarrassment. The clothes that he was wearing were so tight that it felt as if she was hugging him while naked. The expression she made must've been funny, because Bella guffawed loudly.

Blushing fiercely, Ori returned the hug awkwardly and looked down to the man's feet when finally separated. -"Th-Thank you, Th-Thorin."-

Smiling gently at the flustered girl, Thorin grabbed his girlfriend's hand and started walking. He then said, -"So you see, this club is…different than most. See, the dancers—strippers—get to choose whomever they wish to give a lap dance to. Meaning that if someone finds you attractive, you will most probably find yourself with a lap full of—well, you know what I mean."-

The nerves came back to Ori tenfold. She was glad Thorin had told her this; she could prepare herself mentally then. Not that she thought that anyone would come to her or anything, but it was better to be prepared, just in case. Bella, meanwhile, was excited over the whole thing. -"So, who's going to dance to me?"- She asked, looking around the place and noticing the many attractive guys littering the floor.

-"Me."- Thorin growled possessively. -"Of course."-

-"Of course."- Bella agreed amiably. She turned to Ori, -"So, you'll be in the ba-eeep!"-

Ori smirked at Bella as Thorin playfully threw her over his shoulder and took her away to one of the empty chairs. "Yeah, I'll be here! Don't worry…" Sighing, Ori made her way to the bar and ordered herself a drink. She took the glass and proceeded to lean against the counter to see how Bella was doing. A small evil cackle left her mouth as she saw Thorin slowly unbuttoning his trousers and the intense blush staining Bella's cheeks. _'Serves her right!'_ Ori thought. _'For bringing me to this place.'_ Quickly enough, her misery turned a little too intense and Ori turned her eyes away. No, she did not want to see that happening between her friends.

And so it was with a small sigh and a rueful smile that Ori found herself taking out her favorite book from her purse and settling herself to a corner to read. Ahh yes, just like she'd wanted: a good book in one hand, a drink in the other. If she ignored the music, the hot men and the erotic movements around her, she could honestly say that this was a good birthday and mean it. Unfortunately fate seemed to have other ideas, for she hadn't even started to read the second sentence of the first page when a clearing of a throat interrupted her. Slightly annoyed, Ori looked up only to find herself face to chest with the tallest man she'd ever seen standing in front of her.

And he was gorgeous…In a very unconventional and hardcore kind of way, of course.

He was tall for one and strong, incredibly so. He was bald and had _tattoos…_ _on his shaved head_ and huge, shapely arms. His beard was short and neatly trimmed and his factions were that of a serious, but incredibly handsome, man. His eyes were dark and intense, the kind of eyes that could just swallow you whole when stared at intently. All in all, he looked pretty intimidating but Ori couldn't help but think of a giant and _very firm_ teddy bear when looking at him. There was something about him, about his dark eyes that made her think like that; perhaps there was incredible warmth that seemed to reside in their dark depths…Yes. Ori gently shook herself from her thoughts.

Just like Thorin, he was dressed in extremely tight clothes, clothes that made his…body firmness even more stunning.

The man gently took her book and closed it with a sharp snap, making the shy ginger jump slightly as he did so, before gently taking one of her hands and pulling her to her feet. The man and Ori stared at each other for who knows how long, each lost in the other's brown gaze. A tingly feeling was starting to grow between them the longer their eyes connected but Ori pushed the thought to the side for later inspection. Suddenly the huge man grunted out his name, his voice deep and smooth and unbelievably strong, -"Dwalin"-

-"Huh?"- Ori blinked, her brain not quite functioning properly. Once her brain caught up with her, she exclaimed, -"Oh! Umm, I-I am O-Ori."- She stuttered out, a bright blush staining her cheeks.

The man then gifted her with a small, genuine smile that made him look even more stunning, -"Ori."- Goodness, the man was gorgeous when he smiled and the red haired female felt herself blushing helplessly when faced with it. -"Dance with me?"-

-"D-Dance?"- Ori looked around, noticing the way that everybody was dancing in this place and blushed even harder. A small part of her mind was freaking out because it seemed that was all intelligent thought have left her and all she could do was blush in response to everything the man said. -"Umm, I-I-I d-don't know how t-to dance like—"-

Chuckling slightly, Dwalin gently tugged the hand he still had trapped in his bigger one, making her get closer to his huge and muscled body. -"I'll teach you."-

-"Errmm,"- Dwalin's dark eyes were dark and sparkling when she looked up at him and before even her mind registered what she was doing, she was nodding her acceptance. -"S-sure. I-I'll t-try."-

Dwalin smiled gently down at the stuttering female as he led her to the dance floor; and she was panicking all the way there. (Yep, her brain had caught up with the situation) He took her hand and spun her around before gently pressing her back to his chest. He then lowered his head until his lips were a few centimeters away from her ear. He proceeded to start his lesson in seductive dancing with a warm whisper that did strange things to Ori's stomach, -"The music is slow for a reason…It is to allow the dancers to free their bodies and just…move and meld against one another."-

Ori thought that Dwalin's explanation was lacking but decided to not say a thing. After all, the man was being kind enough and was trying to teach her how to dance. Never mind that she didn't really understand what to do or how this was all supposed to go. Ori froze slightly when she felt Dwalin move his hips behind her in a slow circle. _'Oh…_ ' was all she could think _. 'So this is why they call it seductive dancing!'_

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 _A/N: Hello! Please tell me what you think! I've been debating whether to post it or not but I am bored, so I decided to just post it. I mean, what could go wrong, eh? ;D_


	2. Dirty Dancing

**WARNINGS!**

 **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SLIGHT SLASH! IF YOU DON'T LIKE, PLEASE DON'T READ.**

 **I DO NOT OWN OR MAKE MONEY FROM THE DWARVES!**

A/N: Here is chapter two! Please enjoy!

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Chapter two: _Dirty dancing_

The feeling of Dwalin moving behind her was exciting and nerve wracking and simply right (for some strange reason she still couldn't understand) and it made a small shiver run down her spine. His hips were swaying enticingly, trying to make her very own body move in tune with his, and suddenly her hips started to move seemingly on their own accord, slow and timid, gaining a surprised grunt from the man behind her. Brightening even more in embarrassment, Ori stopped moving and Dwalin huffed softly, lowering his head to her ear and whispering softly, -"You were dancing, Ori. Keep doing it, babe."-

The endearment almost made her faint but the man started to move again not really noticing what he was making the poor ginger feel. His big hands were grasping Ori's hips firmly but gently as he rolled his hips against her in the steady rhythm of the song.

Closing her eyes, Ori thought of nothing but of the music and the man moving so enticingly behind her. And she, in a bold move, decided to let herself go. Soon enough, she was moving her hips in tune with the man, swaying to the slow and sexy beat of the music, hips tilting, gasps falling unheard from their mouths. Her hands slowly caressed Dwalin's thighs, going up his sides until they finally came to a stop at the brown eyed man's neck. She was panting slightly, trembling as the feelings of excitement grew with every movement of their hips. Ori suddenly thrusts her bum back against the firmness of the huge man behind her and Ori felt Dwalin's ragged gasp on the back of her neck, which made a small gasp of her own escape her lips because of the sensitivity. His hands tightened fractionally on her hips and the red haired woman chuckled slightly in nervousness. In a sudden bout of bravery, Ori playfully rests her head onto the broad shoulder behind her head and looks up at the slightly trembling man behind her with big eyes. She smiles innocently and then says, -"Sorry."- Though her expression is clearly not sorry at all.

And Dwalin just...smirked.

Crap...for some reason, Ori thought that things were going to get interesting and very quickly. And boy, they did!

Dwalin suddenly spun her around and pressed her flush together without ceasing their movements. Their eyes met, their lips were mere centimeters apart and their breath was puffing out of their mouths as the two kept moving in sync. The man's hands, which were resting upon her hips, were slowly lowered; caressing her bum firmly until they came to rest on the back of her thighs. His smirk widened all the more and before Ori knew it, one of her legs was wrapped around the man's hip.

An embarrassingly loud gasp escaped her lips as the man kept dancing into her, undulating his firmness onto her in that annoyingly seductive way of his. She threw her head back, not really believing that this was happening at all and the man gave a breathless chuckle. Her eyes snapped to the shinning orbs of the man and then he said cheekily, -"Sorry."-

Her mouth slackened in shock, cheeks aflame in cherry red, as she marveled at this man's audacity and incredible sense of humor. He lowered his lips to her ear and then he laughed, -"Two can play at that game, babe."-

She chuckled in breathless amusement, wrapping her arms around the man's neck loosely once again. -"So it would seem."-

Chuckling anew, the man started to press his body tighter against the slight frame of the nearly fainting woman, making her stumble a couple of steps back. Ori was looking up at Dwalin questioningly but her eyes brightened in understanding and she let herself be gently pushed back. It was with a small flaying of arms and a squeak of shock that Ori fell onto a cold chair, looking up to the still dancing man.

-"Dwalin, what are—?"- her words died on her very mouth when the unbearably sexy man that was Dwalin straddled her lap while undulating his hips still. Her cheeks, having regained their natural color, burst into the red color they were becoming accustomed to in a flash, her jaw slackened and her hands came to rest upon her cheeks in extreme mortification.

Dwalin chuckled in glee, his brown eyes soft as he looked down at the blushing woman. He usually disliked it when females became embarrassed because of this but he couldn't seem to bring himself to become annoyed with Ori…She was just so endearing and unbearably cute. Not to mention that she had a bold streak that, in his opinion, he wouldn't mind seeing in its full capacity and more often. Even though the young woman had her hands on her face, her eyes were inevitably glued to him and so, taking advantage of the intense attention of the woman, Dwalin proceeded to take off his shirt—no, scratch that—he ripped his shirt off of his shoulders enticingly slowly. Her pretty brown eyes widened as he revealed himself to her and once the shirt was off, she licked her lips nervously. He gently pried her hands away from her face and with a smirk, teasingly placed them on his bum, forcing her to lean closer to his bare chest and abdomen. Incredibly so, her face reddened even more and she closed her eyes in clear mortification.

A couple of minutes passed with Dwalin dancing, his mind trying to stay focused and completely ignore the warm breath tickling his senses and abdomen when suddenly, a loud but sharp groan escaped his throat when he felt the curious tongue teasingly tracing his abdominals.

The brown eyed man trembled and panted in his effort to stay calm. He turned his wide eyed gaze down to the red faced woman and he wished he hadn't.

-"Fuck—Ori—"- Dwalin panted, trying desperately to calm his breathing and his frantically beating heart. -"W-what-?"-

-"S-sorry…I-I couldn't help myself."- Ori said breathlessly, her face red and embarrassed.

The dancer laughed in breathless disbelief. Damn.

This was going to be the best lap dance he'd ever given…he was sure of it.

On the other side of the room, one Bella Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield were standing, wrapped around one another with their mouths hanging open. Though it was not common to find a couple, especially this specific couple, doing this (even more so in a place like this) what they were seeing was totally worthy of showing surprise, shock, or whatever else you might want to call it.

* * *

But let us start with Thorin.

Thorin was a very serious man. So much, in fact, that he prided himself on this very handy ability which allowed him to seem mature and very…regal when the time was right. He was also incredibly blunt. And being a blunt man as he was, he usually had a lot of problems with many different people, in many different occasions. What he prided himself on though, was on the fact that he used his bluntness with his friends too. So he was brutally honest with them.

Why do I bring this up?

It is simple.

A couple of hours before the girls had arrived, he and Dwalin were backstage, talking and getting ready as they used to do every day they worked. And naturally he was talking about the two women who were going to visit the establishment a couple of hours later.

-"So, Bella is coming tonight man. This is going to be so exciting."- Thorin said with a small smile on his handsome face, -"Though she is bringing her best friend along…I am sure that Ori is going to faint as soon as she enters. I'm not sure why Bella is set on dragging the poor girl to these sorts of places…Although, it was mainly my idea…"-

-"Who knows man, maybe her friend—what's her name? Ori? Yeah, that one—she might end up enjoying herself."- Dwalin answered with a small grunt as he squeezed himself into the tight pants.

Thorin had shrugged because, who knows? Anything could happen. Besides, he didn't know Ori that well seeing as she was always so nervous around him and barely spoke when they hung out.

-"Is she cute?"- Dwalin suddenly asked, shocking Thorin into a coughing fit. -"Bella's friend, I mean."-

-"Aw man."- Thorin said in between coughs. -"She is, but she's certainly not your type; too shy and nervous. She'll probably die of fright at the sight of you."-

Grunting something that Thorin couldn't understand, Dwalin stopped the topic in favor of getting dressed and ready for their shift. And so, the whole thing went forgotten in Thorin's mind. He figured that his friend would probably get bored of the girl and certainly wouldn't be interested at all in her, so he stopped thinking about it.

Never in his life, did he expect to see Dwalin dancing with her as he was his eyes bright in interest and intensity.

-"Holy fuck,"- Thorin mumbled. -"Is that—Is that really-?"-

-"Uh huh."- Bella answered numbly.

On the other hand, Bella was ecstatic, shocked and incredibly excited on her best friend's behalf. She knew Ori better than most people and so she knew that Ori, behind all that meekness and shyness she portrayed to the world, was an incredibly passionate and fiery young woman. She knew this and she hoped that her friend would find a man—her one- capable of making all that passion and fire come out of her in waves. This man of a brute had managed to somehow ensnare Ori with his movements and his ways, and although Bella knew it was much too early to know, she was sure that her friend and that man were right for one another. There was just a connection that one usually see when two people are right. It was clear by the way the two inevitably seemed to gravitate towards one another. What she wasn't expecting was for her to find that at a strip club.

Damn, Bella was sure that she would be blushing even hours after they'd gone home. That man she was with—Dwalin, if she recalled correctly—was sex and gentleness personified. His movements were sure and confident, gently guiding the stiff Ori through their dance until she too was dancing as if she had been born doing it.

She had witnessed the moment of boldness in Ori and had nearly whooped in joy when the man had taken it in stride with what seemed to be an amused, surprised chuckle. He then, of course, proceeded to retaliate in kind and oh, wasn't life sweet! Seeing her friend become flustered and red because of such a simple matter of arousal and attraction was an amazing thing.

She was proud of her Ori.

Bella's face though, became cherry red and her mouth slackened when Dwalin—bless his soul—started to give her friend the promised birthday lap dance. The man ripped his shirt off in the most seductive manner, he then proceeded to place Ori's hands on his bum, forcing her red faced friend be face to face with the man's rather impressive chest. And then the unthinkable happened.

After a couple of minutes of dancing, on Dwalin's part, Ori's tongue came out of her mouth and traced the equally impressive abs of the huge man. -"AHH! OHMYGOSH! DID YOU—DID YOU SEE THAT, THORIN!?"- Bella exclaimed with a wide smile wickedly spreading on her face, as she all but ogled at the scene. The two saw as Dwalin trembled and looked up at the ceiling in an effort to calm himself. They saw when the man looked down at Ori, said something and seemed to groan inaudibly at whatever had been said.

-"Holy shit—"- Thorin started to say, but then the words died on his mouth.

Dwalin was undulating his hips atop of hers, sweat glistening on his face, his breath seemingly coming out of his mouth in quick succession as he did so. His eyes were scrunched closed and he was biting his lip in a clear effort to stay quiet, as Ori ran her hands over his chest and abdomen. She was now leaning on his shoulder, cheeks red and clearly embarrassed, but not stopping the proceedings at all. After a particularly sharp movement, which might've caused some sort of reaction out of Ori, Thorin and Bella found themselves witnessing an incredibly heated kiss between the two.

Ori seemed shocked at first, but after a few encouraging nips and licks on Dwalin's part, she was enthusiastically kissing back, boldly wrapping her legs around the man's strong waist. The kiss seemed to go on forever and the couple—Thorin and Bella—stood gaping stupidly at the scene for what felt like ages. Blinking the shock out of their eyes, the two silently walked out of the club in order to get some silence and think about what they've seen.

-"Thorin?"- Bella asked after a long, long time of individual thinking. -"Did we just watch your friend and my friend having a very heated moment?"-

-"Yep."- Thorin deadpanned.

-"Really?"-

-"Yes."-

-"Damn."- The curly haired woman said, shock making her brain slow. -"Is he—is he a good man?"-

That question brought Thorin out of his thoughts and he looked at his girlfriend with a soothing smile on his face. -"He is. He might be intimidating and tough looking, but he is the greatest man I know."-

-"Good…Good."- Bella said pensively. Suddenly, she smiled brightly at her boyfriend and with an air of extreme cheerfulness she said, -"It wouldn't do if I had to cut your friend's dick because he hurt my Ori, now would it?"-

Thorin knew that Bella was not joking and so he quickly nodded his head, trying to dissuade his love from doing something rash. He just hoped that Dwalin didn't do something stupid that might cost him his…well, his dick.

After a few minutes of being in a catatonic state of shock, the two decided that it was time to head back inside and see what was of their friends.

* * *

A/N2: This is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did! Please tell me what you think!


	3. Decisions, decisions

_A/N: Hello again! Chapter four is here!_

 _Right, so this is still kind of smutty but I promise we shall be going past that. . THE SMUT ENDS HERE! For now at least..._

 **WARNING: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS AT ALL, JUST THE STORY LINE I AM TWISTING HERE. :P**

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Chapter three: _Decisions, decisions._

Kissing Ori was not in his plans. That is not to say that he regretted it.

'Cuz he didn't.

It was the most amazing kiss he's ever shared with anyone. And that was saying a lot. Kissing this perfectly shaped woman felt warm and moist and just plain right. The emptiness he was always trying to fulfill was strangely absent and his mind, body and senses were tingling pleasantly as their lips twined in a passionate kiss.

He was sure that he wouldn't get tired of kissing these lips, of tasting this skin and of touching these curves. For some reason that he couldn't fathom, he wanted to protect this gentle but fiery woman from the world. For the first time in what felt like forever he felt as if his body was not under his control any longer, as if there was a greater force dictating their every movement and sounds and thrust they were making.

His hands were tangled in her short hair, softly pulling at the tresses, his body pressed flush against hers allowing her to feel his body and his lips, his heat; teeth and tongue dancing along with hers. Dwalin's talented tongue invaded her mouth and with a small sound of pleasure, she let him explore her mouth curiously. She tasted of cherries and chocolate and he could get drunk on her taste alone. She bit his lip, making him groan and gasp slightly at the pain she brought, only to soothe it with her tongue.

Unfortunately, the need for air became too much and the two were forced to separate in order to take in precious oxygen. Their hips, meanwhile, continued to make the sensuous movements that were driving them both crazy and Dwalin, his voice husky and deeper than it had been when this entire ordeal had begun, managed to grunt out in between gasps and moans,

-"Oh Mahal…you…make me…crazy, Ori. Shit…don't you dare stop."- Unable to speak or do anything but get lost in the sensations, Ori simply shook her head in agreement.

Grunting, Dwalin continued with his dance, shivering every time those small hands caressed him ever so gently, almost reverently. He was sure that there has never been a woman that could make him feel like this, make him loose control in this way. The minutes seemed to stretch; the sensations growing even more intense and before the man knew it, he was grunting and releasing his seed in his tight pants. His eyes widened in great mortification and a blush tore his way and settled on his cheeks. Never before had he gotten off while he was on the job before, not when he was with a client (which was not as often as most would think).

Mahal…this was beyond embarrassing.

Ori was looking up at him with a confused and worried expression on her pretty face and Dwalin hid his flaming face on her shoulder. The young woman chuckled nervously and wrapped her arms around him unsurely.

-"Now you decide to be shy, Mr. Dwalin?"- Ori asked, sounding incredulous and nervous. -"Why?"-

-"I—I, fuck."- Was all the man answered, not quite believing that he had just released his seed in his pants because of a client. Not that he was complaining, hell no! This had been the best lap dance ever with the most interesting partner. The whole thing felt surreal and he was sure that this stranger was something special.

-"Um…w-what?"- The young red head was feeling rather awkward now and Dwalin's sudden mood change was making that awkwardness increase. She tried to think of what to say or do, but nothing came to mind. It was as if her brain and vocal cords had decided to leave her stranded as they went on an indefinite vacation.

Dwalin, for his part, didn't know how to answer that question and so he did what he did best, he grunted. Ori huffed a little and good naturedly slapped his bum, which made him twitch with interest in his pants. This made the buff man lean a bit back so that he could look at the young woman with a raised brow; which, as Dwalin predicted, made her blush slightly. What was it about this woman that made his body become fire? Mahal, he was sure that he could go for a second round if she so asked.

–"That is not an answer, you know?"—The woman said before she looked down for a brief moment, her eyes unsure. When she looked up it was through her lashes and his heart accelerated a bit. If the tattooed man was honest, he nearly melted at the look. Goddamn it, she was so cute. ' _What was I to do?'_ He was so lost in thought and in her eyes that he almost missed when she mumbled shyly, -"What is w-wrong? D-Did I—"

The stripper gently placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face so that their eyes could meet. He looked at her with a firm expression on his face, his tone of voice adamant and stern as he said, -"You did nothing wrong, Ori. If you must know, you made me mess my pants up real bad."—

Ori looked slightly confused for a long time, her thoughts clearly running a mile a minute as she tried to figure out what he meant. And suddenly, there was a look of hesitant realization dawning on her face. She looked intensely at his face with wide brown eyes and then, as quickly as she managed, down at his crotch area. His member twitched once more. The young woman squeaked and looked up at the man, surprise etched onto every crevice of her face. Dwalin was sure to nod his head and smirk playfully in order to give her a hint and he was pleased to notice that his beautiful shy girl was blushing madly once more. She buried her face in her trembling hands and the man couldn't help but laugh at her adorableness.

-"What should we do about that, Ori?"—Dwalin asked seductively, his voice deep and low.

Ori shivered. –"U-Umm, I—you—Uhh…ehhm…"—the girl babbled incoherently.

Feeling a wave of arousal hit his veins, he removed the hands covering her face and with a gentle tug, he pulled the woman flush to his chest. He leaned down, trapping her with his big and muscled body, lips a mere inches apart, breath hot and humid and panting. His tongue came out of his mouth to trace the outline of her plump lips which gained him a delicious shiver from her trapped form. –"Tell me."—Dwalin whispered hotly. –"Tell me what you want. Tell me that you want this. Anything and I will do it. Just…Mahal, tell me."—

Another shiver ran through her body, this one stronger than the last as she all but stared into his soul as if searching for something. Suddenly, when he least expected, her lips were devouring his with a vigor and a fire that left him breathless. Heat exploded under his skin as he cradled her slight frame closer to his body. He knew that he would get fired for this but there was just something so delightful and addictive in this woman, her kisses, and her body, her everything that made him crave more. He'd only gotten a brief taste but now he wanted to ravish her, he wanted her to moan and writhe under him, to gasp on top of him, to scream. He wanted her to be his. He needed her in his life, near him, gifting him with her shy smiles and gentle touches. He wanted to see her bold and fiery side more; he wanted to soothe her when she was sad, to hold her as she cried, and to know her inside and out. He wanted her to know him and look at him with a pleased smile on her lips.

These feelings were overwhelming and empowering and all consuming. He burned. And he yearned.

And so they kissed like there was no tomorrow, like they're lives depended on it in order to live. Their hands roamed and explored the bodies that were so unknown to them, they breathed together and moved together. It was the most perfect moment of his life, as if the light he's always been searching for had been found.

Suddenly, Ori shoved him away from her almost violently. Her eyes were wide, her hair disheveled and her lips kissed. She looked beautiful. The man looked up from the sprawled position he was now in on the floor and got up. She took a step back and her eyes, a little while ago burning with an all consuming fire, were unsure and panicked. Her body was trembling.

-"Ori, what—?"—

"I-I…I-I can't d-do this. I'm so sorry."— With that the woman turned and ran away, leaving Dwalin standing, shirtless and hollow. He didn't understand what just happened, all he knows is that his heart (and dick) was surely dying.

His surly self suddenly came back to him; the man growled and tore his way through the dancing mass, uncaring of the indignant cries and exclamations of pain. He walked to his changing room without taking notice of anything and once there, he slammed the door shut, making it reverberate. With a frustrated grunt that seemed to come from the depths of his soul, he punched the reflection that was staring back at him, making his strong fist bleed. He then proceeded to trash the whole place in order to make sense of his feelings.

For one, he was as hard as a rock, his member pulsing with need and the phantom touch of Ori. He was frustrated and confused, why the bloody hell did Ori leave? Why then? Had something happened? No possible answers came to mind and this made him even more angry.

-"Dwalin! DWALIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"—came a slightly panicked yell from the door.

-"She left! She fucking left—me with—a raging—HARD ON! WHAT THE FUCK!? ARRRGHH! That woman…DAMN IT—DAMN IT!"—

Thorin watched the man yell and thrash the place. And for the first time in the many years of their friendship, the black haired man didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, he decided to not say a word and simply take his phone out and record it all. -"What..? Oh."-

* * *

Meanwhile, Ori was feeling breathless as she ran away from the stuffy place that Bella took her to. She ran as fast as she once upon a time had, but it was for a completely different reason. Her mind kept replaying the past two hours in a blur of pictures and the running woman felt her face flush in embarrassment and slight shame. What the heck?

Soon enough, she found herself collapsing on the couch of the apartment she shared with Bella and wondered just how the hell she managed to open the door. Ori decided to think about that later. Right now she had more pressing matters. Like how she had just snogged a man senseless and made him FUCKING CUM ON HIS PANTS! No, no. Calm down, Ori reasoned that she might as well calm down before she did something stupid or rash, like…go back or something. No.

The young woman pressed the heel of her palms on her eyes, still not quite believing that all of this has happened, with a complete stranger, no less. But…she had to accept that it did not feel strange at all. It was as if her body and soul had been waiting for this moment to happen for a long time…She shook her head. This was insane.

Someone was running up the stairs of her apartment and for a wild moment, Ori wanted it to be Dwalin. But then she reasoned it was not him; the two of them had just met today, briefly, before the rest…happened. The door opened and Bella came in, panting a sweating. She slammed the door behind her and stomped her way to Ori. She huffed and sat down on the nearby couch; and through all of this the red haired woman didn't even flinch.

-"What just happened?"—Bella asked, blinking at her friend in slight confusion.

The other woman chuckled and before she knew it, she was laughing hysterically as everything that had happened finally caught up to her. The brown haired woman was staring at her with a raised smile and a slow smile stretching on her lips.

-"Oh, Bells, it was amazing! He was so handsome and kind and just so sexy that—"-The laughter and flow of words stopped abruptly and was replaced with a groan. –"Oh, I am so screwed."—

-"Huh? Why would you say that?"—Bella asked.

Ori blushed all the way to her neck before saying, -"I left the man with a—with an—erection."—

-"Oh."—was all Bella said as her shoulders shook with repressed laughter. Ori noticed this and it was with a half hearted scowl that the ginger haired woman got up from the couch and left. Bella, mischievous little thing she was, yelled at her retreating friend. –"Let's hope he doesn't find you with his massive dick!"—

To which an "eepp" was her only answer.

* * *

 _ **A/N: This is it! THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE FAVORITED AND FOLLOWED MY STORY! I THANK YOU'S FOR THY REVIEWS! YOU ARE ALL VERY KIND.**_

Btw, I got my first flame! Yaaaaaay! xD It was a surely interesting experience.

 _Cheers and don't die on your finals, the light is almost there!_


	4. An Impossible Mission

_A/N: Hi, this is as an early Mother's Day gift of sorts._

 **WARNINGS: NONE IN THIS CHAPTER.**

 **We are past the smut (which seemed kinda endless .)**

 **#SorryNotSorry**

* * *

Chapter four:A _n impossible mission_

Thorin Oakenshield wanted to laugh himself silly.

Now, this was a very rare occurrence but the times it happened it was honestly on his best friend's expanse. And right now was not the exception.

Why?

Well his friend, a huge beast of a man with bulging muscles and a less than friendly reception most of times, was completely, irrevocably and undeniably infatuated with Ori Ri, Bella's rather shy friend. And Thorin found this hilarious because, damn! The girl was the quietest person Thorin has met; she was so very nervous around new people (especially if they looked intimidating, which Dwalin certainly did). She was also an incredibly shy person, which was actually not accurate, since he could not forget what had transpired with his friend and the "shy" girl no matter how much he tried.

But that was not the point here.

The point was that his friend was, ever since that fateful night, thinking nonstop about the young woman. Not only that but he was having…certain problems with a certain part of his body and this was something that Thorin just loved to use to tease him about.

Dwalin, the man responsible for Thorin's amusement and good mood, came out of the bathroom with his face flushed. And the black haired man guffawed loudly, making the tattooed man huff in slight embarrassment.

-"Aww, man! Again? How old are you, twelve?"—Thorin asked between his bouts of laughter. Laughter which increased as Dwalin made a very rude gesture to his face before sitting down with a groan.

-"Fuck off, Thorin."—Dwalin said, looking up at the ceiling as he waited for his friend to finish laughing at his expanse. Once done, he said, -"Say, weren't you supposed to meet Bella today?"—

Thorin smirked knowingly at the man, completely disregarding the questioning glance his friend gave him when he did, and decided to answer the question instead of teasing him more; at least for now. –"Yeah…in a couple of hours. You should go out man, you know, have fun, live life a little."—

Dwalin made a small face, -"Thorin, we've had this conversation before. I—It doesn't feel the same anymore. It feels—"—

-"Yeah, yeah I know. It feels different and wrong, yeah you told me."—Thorin replied, leaning back on his seat, his dark eyes searching his friend curiously. –"It's because of Ori is it?"—

His friend did not answer right away; instead the man got up to their liquor cabinet and proceeded to serve two tumblers of the amber liquid. He gave Thorin one and quickly downed his before serving himself a new one. The man then sat heavily on his seat, a tired sigh escaping his lips. The man ran a hand through his tattooed head and sighed again as he did so. –"I—I don't know man…It's just—"—

-"Hey, I get it. It must be confusing for you, right?"—Thorin said, trying to help his buddy out. –"But…Ori? Out of all the girls to get infatuated with, you picked the one that seems so unlikely…Why? What is so special about her, anyway? I just don't see it."—

Dwalin stayed quiet for a long time and half of that time he spent it looking at Thorin as if he was insane or something. And the other man tried not to take offense at this, since he knew that he might've looked the same when he had told the other man about Bella. He meant what he said though, he wasn't sure what the tattooed man saw in a girl like Ori. She was just so…bland, too quiet and too nervous to capture the attention of his buddy. At least, that was what he had thought. Now he isn't that sure. She wasn't someone that spoke of confidence when you saw her, she wasn't as pretty as the girls who usually got near to Dwalin on a daily basis and he was, to be quite honest, bewildered by this. What could be that his friend saw that he didn't? Thorin was sure that Ori was a wonderful human being once you got behind all of her layers but that was it. He couldn't really wrap his mind around the fact that his friend, the one who got asked out by the most beautiful of women around town more times that he cared to count, was really this affected by little Ori. Surely all of this was a passing thing.

His thoughts were interrupted when Dwalin started to speak, which startled him a little, -"She…She has this spark about her. I—I don't know how to explain it, but she has it. It shines…so brightly, Thorin, brighter than any other I've ever encountered."—

-"Oh."—Thorin deadpanned eyes wide.

-"She's just so intriguing, man. One moment she's all shy, ready to die of embarrassment and suddenly she's all fierce, eyes burning with a fire that burns all. She's…a walking contradiction. It's…interesting."—

Thorin stared in shock as his friend explained to him the reasons of why his all being seemed to sing at the thought of Bella's small friend. He was more than shocked actually. He never thought that Dwalin could ever feel this deeply for someone he had just met (quite literally) and now he was feeling very guilty for thinking that his friend was going to end up dying alone, of all things. He also felt bad for Ori because, well he had always been a dick towards her, treating her as a child, not taking her seriously or even bothering to know his girlfriend's friend beyond her name and the fact that she liked books.

Perhaps it was time to do something about that. Perhaps it was time to show some interest on his love's friend, if not for her sake for Dwalin who was like a brother to him. A slow smile started to stretch across his lips because, hey, maybe he could help his friend get what he wanted. And who knows, maybe Ori felt the same way about him, at least, Thorin hoped so. Because it would totally suck to see his friend all bummed out and heartbroken, because yeah, he'll be heartbroken alright. What with the way he was talking and looking as he talked about the small girl.

Damn.

He hoped things worked out.

* * *

Bella knew that something was up with her boyfriend.

And not because he was quiet…that was normal. What was not normal was to have him staring at the same spot on the wall for more than forty minutes straight. Almost without blinking.

It was…amusing.

And highly worrying.

What could possibly be wrong?

She asked him so and she was a bit surprised to see how a blush spread across his cheeks in embarrassment as he squirmed uncomfortably, as if being caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Bella giggled nervously, it was always funny to see Thorin be flustered about something.

-"Hey, what is wrong? You are flustered."—Bella stated with a small smile on her dimpled face.

This of course, made the proud man huff out a childish, -"Am not!"—

-"Are too!"—Bella teased right back, -"Tell me?"—

Thorin leaned back but did not say a word. And this made the hazel eyed female become worried. Never before had Thorin held what was bothering him back. He was usually straight up about it so they could fix it. But now…now he was withholding it. And that was not a good sign.

She got up from her chair and without a second thought went to sit beside her lover. –"Thorin, what is it? If there's something wrong—anything at all—please let me help."—

The man sighed and peeked up at Bella before he looked away guiltily. This of course, made Bella start to panic a little bit. Oh Yavanna, what if Thorin wanted to break up with her? What if he had met someone else and didn't know how to tell her so? No, no, no! No, it can't be. Things were going great, or so she had thought. She did not know why now or when did these things happened. But if this was the case, she wanted him to tell it to her face and not be a coward. She wanted him to stand up for himself no matter it hurt to see him leave.

-"Is—Is it me? Are you-?"—The man reacted in a flash and before she knew it, she was leaning on her couch with Thorin towering over her. His eyes were wide and horrified, as if what she had just proposed was the most horrible thing he has ever heard. His big, calloused hands gently traced her cheeks, which she was loathe noticing, were wet with tears of fear.

-"No. No, no, no, it is nothing like that, my love. I swear to you."—Thorin was quick to reassure with gentle caresses and fluttering kisses. –"I am simply thinking."—

Bella sniffed pitifully, accepting the unspoken apologies Thorin was giving her in the form of caresses and kisses. –"So…what is it then if not some other woman wooing you away from me?"—

-"Come now, Bella. Don't be pitiful, love."—Thorin kissed passionately to get his point across. –"No one is wooing me away from you, I swear."—

-"Then what is it?"-

-"I—"—The man sighed, feeling guilt crash to him once more in waves. –"It's Ori."—

-"Ori?"—Bella asked, her eyes widening with worry.

-"It's just…I realized just how much of a…dick I've been towards her ever since I met her. And now that Dwalin is infatuated with her I realized how badly I was treating her that I—"—

-"Dwalin is infatuated with Ori!?"—Bella all but squeaked.

Noticing his blunder, the black haired male groaned before saying with a guilty wince, -"Shit."—

The brown haired woman scrambled to get up, smiling widely as she did so. Once up on her two feet, she started to babble and talk in such a fast way that her boyfriend was unable to understand a word she was saying. Suddenly she did a horrible screeching sound that had Thorin wanting to cover his ears and wince, which of course he did. Soon enough she was jumping up and down and squealing like a maniac and Thorin just sat there, looking dumbfounded at his usually calm girlfriend all but went wild in the living room.

Not only that bt she was clapping like a demented seal.

-"Umm…What is going on..? I feel like I'm missing something vital here…"—

-"Oh my gosh, this is great! THORIN, this is great!"— the woman gushed, her cheeks pink and her bright eyes wide.

-"What is?"—the man asked, feeling totally confused because damn it! Did she had to talk so damn fast every time she was excited about something?

Bella squeaked again. –"I knew, knew it, knew it, knew it! Ohh Thorin, we need to do something!"—

-"Bella. Bella, Bella wait!"—Thorin grabbed his still jumping girlfriend and hugged her close in an attempt to calm her down. –"What in Mahal's name are you talking about?"—

–"We, love of my life,"- Bella giggled in excitement, her hazel eyes shining brightly in delight as she declared this with as much determination as her small frame could muster. –"are going to help our two friends…get together."—

-"To-Together? As in together, together?"—

-"Uh-huh. EXACTLY!"—

Thorin thought about it for a little while and the more he did, the more appealing he found the idea. And although he found it incredibly amusing to see his friend become flustered every time the thought of Ori brought his body on fire, he wanted his friend to find someone that would cherish him just as the brute of a man he was. (Yes, he was getting soft, blame Bella) Hopefully though, those two would let go of their stubbornness and actually get together, because Thorin was sure that he would get real pissed off if they didn't. After all the damn work they'll be surely putting into their relationship…Yes. The dark haired man smirked slowly at his girlfriend, who upon seeing the eager smirk on his lips gave a slightly scary chuckle.

Bella managed to somehow take his phone from his back pocket while he was distracted and dialed a number with her quick little fingers. Frowning in slightly curiosity and at the sense of foreboding he felt growing in his stomach, the man watched on as the smile on her girlfriend's lips turned positively evil when the person on the other line answered the phone.

-"BOFUR, hi! It's Bella! Yes, I am fine, thank you!"—

Thorin's eyes widened in shock and a small hiss escaped his lips as he tried to pry the phone from Bella's fingers. Unfortunately the woman was faster than he was and was soon bounding away, phone annoyingly still stuck to her ear. –"What the hell are you doing!?"—

Bella placed her hand on the phone, and then whispered: -"Causing chaos that is what!"—

The man groaned out loud, placing his face in his hands.

He knew that he was going to regret this, heck! He already was.

And it wasn't because of the whole getting them together but because Bofur could be…intense. Considering who he _intimately_ knew. What he did know, though, was that the man would be willing to help them out once Bella finished talking with him. And that…scared the crap out of him.

He just hoped, for the second time in his life, that Dwalin didn't do something stupid.

In any case, the following months were going to be interesting. _That_ was for sure.

* * *

 _A/N2: This chapter was very fun to write! I have lots of ideas for after this and if you want to give me some ideas, I am open to them. :D Thank you for reading._


	5. Mission I: Instill Insecurity

A/N: Hello, chapter five is here! I hope you enjoy!

 **WARNING: I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS AT ALL, JUST THE STORY LINE I AM TWISTING.**

 **HILARITY ENSUES!**

* * *

Chapter five: _Mission I: Instill insecurity_

Thorin knew that to do.

He _was_ ready.

He knew that their plan was fool proof.

Heck, it was Dwalin and Ori proof. Which was an awesome feat considering the suspicious nature of one of them and the observant nature of the other.

He was so sure of their plan that when he saw it was _not_ going to work, he panicked. And he panicked badly. _Shit,_ he wasn't counting on Dwalin actually refusing to go to the damn picnic. _Mahal curse this man!_

Knowing that if his friend refused to go, they had to work something else out, the man decided to try his luck again. This time, he used what he would like to think was a talent of his (which was certainly unfair, since he was using Dwalin's soft spot for him to get what he wanted) and then said: -"C'mon man! Please, Bella _really_ wanted you to go. I promised her you were going to go. Are you seriously going to make me look bad in front of her and her friends?"-

-"'S yer own fault."—Dwaling mumbled and for a second, Thorin's brain froze.

Fuck.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

A miniature Thorin was running around his frozen brain, screaming hysterically _"Abort the mission! .MISSION!"_ as he ran around in circles. The real life Thorin though, was looking at his friend with a slacked jaw as he tried to scramble for an idea.

Nothing came to him.

And so it was with a resigned huff that he turned his back on his friend and walked dejectedly back to the living room. He sat on the sofa and stared at the wall, still trying to figure out what went so wrong. He knew that he was most probably being dramatic but they'd been so sure of this plan. _So sure!_ And it had backfired on them badly. Thorin sighed, running a tired hand through his salt and pepper hair.

Damn. What was he going to say to Bella when he got there?

She was surely going to flip out before she collected herself and started to plan anew.

His thoughts were broken by the stomping steps that were coming his way and when Dwalin came into the room, Thorin had to contain himself from jumping up and down in hope.

Clearing his thoughts away from his face, the dark haired man looked up at his best friend expectantly, noting with a gleeful smirk that the man looked torn. The tattooed man shifted from side to side before groaning lowly to himself. –"Mahal give me strength."—the man mumbled before saying louder, -"Fine, I'll go with ye."—

Thorin got up from his seat, a huge smile of victory on his lips. –"Yes!"—

-"But, ye owe me a month of free lunches."—

Thorin glared at his smirking friend, before nodding his head surly. –"Lazy sod."—

-"Imma helping you save face, ain't I? Should be thanking me, really."—With that the man left to his room and change out of his pajamas.

With a pleased smirk, the man took up his phone and on the first ring it was picked up. Feeling accomplished and making sure that it was noticeable from the tone of his voice, he said curtly, -"Papa Bear on the move."—

 _-"Pfft, really?"_ —the masculine voice on the other end laughed. _–"Papa Bear?"—_

-"Shut it, Bofur! We'll be there in ten."—with that said, the brunette snapped his phone shut and waited for his friend to finish pimping himself up so they could leave.

 _The plan was on the move._

* * *

Bella knew when Ori spotted the tattooed man when she sputtered into her drink, making herself go into a coughing fit so bad that nearly had her hazel eyed friend dying on the floor laughing. The ginger haired woman was red from the tip of her ears all the way to her neck as she tried in vain to not stare at the man who was slowly but surely making his way over to them.

-"Thorin!"—Bella exclaimed in genuine happiness, throwing himself into the waiting arms of his loved one and kissing him passionately for a long while, which of course, forced the other pair to fidget nervously.

-"U-Umm…He-Hello, Mis-Mister Dwalin."—Ori manage to stutter out, completely mortified when her voice came out as a raspy squeak because of the coughing she's done mere minutes ago.

But the man either didn't notice or didn't care, because when the young woman chanced to peek up at him, the burly man was smiling gently down at her, his eyes shining in slight amusement. –"Hello, Ori."—

She shivered, liking the way the man rolled the 'r' of her name to make it seem more exotic. Mahal, this man was sinful. She opened her mouth to inquire about his well being, talk about the weather, say something that was _not_ incriminating at all when she was suddenly interrupted by someone barreling into her. She and, who she came to notice was none other than, Bofur went tumbling down onto the grass, all breath lost from her lungs when the man landed quite heavily atop her.

-"Ori! It's been so long, far too long actually! Anyways, I've missed you so much!"—the man said as he proceeded to squeeze the life out of her as he babbled excitedly into her hair.

Against her will, the red head felt herself chuckle in amusement at the man's antics, because heck. It has surely been too long of a time since she's seen this goof ball. Her arms went around his babbling frame warmly and she, without really thinking about it, nodded in acceptance of whatever he was saying.

-"Oriiiii," Bofur was suddenly whining, looking down at her with wide eyes and a petulant pout. –"Are you listening to me at all?"—

The young woman mocked glared and raised her nose in the air as best as she could. She then huffed out indignantly, -"Of course I was."—

Bofur gave her a knowing look but decided to let it pass for now. The two got up from the floor, chuckling as they did so. A small cough got the two of them swiveling around with guilty expressions on their faces, a light red tint covering their cheeks. Thorin and Bella were looking at them with little smirks on their lips, which made Ori brighten even more in embarrassment.

 _Damn it_ , Ori thought, _always in front of these two. I am so not going to live it down._

Ori's and Dwalin's eyes met and the young woman lowered her head in slight embarrassment. She peeked up at him from under her lashes and realized that she had not introduced the both of them. Opening her mouth to do just as her older brother had instilled in her at an early age, Bofur exclaimed something and dragged her away from the baffled man.

The red head chuckled nervously and threw the tattooed man an apologetic look as she was dragged away from his tense body.

* * *

Dwalin wanted to punch something.

Preferably that man in the funny hat's face.

The tattooed man sighed tiredly, thumping his head back onto the hard bark of the tree he was leaning against. He knew that he probably shouldn't be feeling like this but…damn. He had been hoping to see her for such a long time and now that she is right there, literally a few yards away and peeking at him every once in a while, she might be with…a guy.

Dwalin wined at the thought.

 _Damn._

That would seriously suck.

If they were together, he thought.

Although, she certainly did not act girlfriend-ish with the man. She treated him more like a brother, of sorts. But then again, he might be hallucinating or something, his mind playing tricks on him or something because the guy did seem kind of infatuated. Okay…very infatuated.

And he…hated it.

Never before had he felt so…out of his comfort zone. After all, girls were the ones throwing themselves at him but not Ori. She was different and…cute.

He liked her.

The man shook his head, running a hand through his trimmed beard thoughtfully as his eyes seek her out and quickly find her.

The young woman was laughing at something the man in the hat had said, her eyes shining brightly as she did so. Her ivory skin was beautiful and seemed to glow in the evening sun. Her hair, which was gently moving thanks to the wind, looked brighter too, and it brought out the brown color of her eyes. She was talking now, her soft looking mouth curling around the words in a sensuous way as her hands gestured expressively along with the spoken words. The other man was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful sun in the whole universe. And he felt something uncomfortable churn in his stomach at the thought.

He shook his head.

Maybe he should go and talk to her..? Maybe she wouldn't mind, would she? She did seem to be a bit nervous around me when we greeted. Perhaps that was because she was embarrassed over what happened? Or was it because she felt awkward? Maybe she regrets what happened that day? What if she doesn't want to see him no more?

Feelings of dread, nervousness and slight dread started to flow through his body. And Dwalin huffed in annoyance, thumping his head once more onto the tree.

 _Dammit, Dwalin! Stop yer slubberin', ye weak fool! Ye just met the lass, stop being such a weaklin' and go talk ta' 'er._

The man grunted, downed what was left of his beer and got up, nervously dusting his pants from the dirt and grass. He took a deep breath, ran a hand over his bald head for strength, prayed briefly to Mahal and then walked towards the woman at a leisured pace. As he walked he watched her, noting with pleasure as she got red in the face the closer he got to where she was standing.

The man in the funny hat, looked at him with an unreadable face that made Dwalin want to smirk cockily back at him. Maybe even flip him off. But he didn't do that. He was sure that Ori would get angry; she seemed to be like that type of girl, so he refrained from doing that. Instead, he walked seductively toward the red haired woman, watching her stutter and tried to keep her eyes away from him and on the conversation she was having. She failed.

By the time he got there, Ori was red in the face and twisting her hands nervously. She looked to him and away in quick succession and when he finally stopped to stand beside her she lowered her head in embarrassment.

-"How ye been, Ori? It's been a long time since we last saw each other."—Dwalin stated casually, withholding a small smirk when he heard the woman sputter slightly at the reminder of their meeting.

-"'S been only three weeks…"—the woman mumbled with a small glare in his direction.

And Dwalin couldn't help but laugh. –"Right. Three weeks since then…"—

-"Hmph."—Ori said, not really appreciating the reminder.

The tattooed man smiled mischievously at the woman and decided that he was going to tease her for a little bit. All in good fun, of course. Perhaps he could see a bit of that fire again… -"It was certainly fun, that day. I thought you didn't dance…Are you a liar, little Ori?"—

The young woman simultaneously reddened and bristled in anger. –"I am not a liar!"- She sniffed indignantly, crossing her arms. –"I am just a quick learner. A _very_ quick learner, if you catch my drift."—

Dwalin's eyes widened in slight shock when the woman winked suggestively in his direction, which made his cheeks, brighten in a faint red color. He was so not expecting that.

He swallowed past the sudden lump on his throat. –" _Oh_ …Right. Um—"—

Ori laughed out loud, her eyes twinkling in amusement. She held onto his arm as she laughed, tears of mirth running down her cheeks. After a little while of laughing, in which he mock acted as if he was annoyed with the girl, which only prompted more laughter from the woman. –"Yo—you f-face-! It was, ahaha, it was hilarious!"—

-"Har, har. Hilarious."—He said drily, but his small smile belied his true feelings.

The woman straightened and with a more relaxed smile, she extended her hand towards him as she said, -Ori Ri, at your service."—

-"Dwalin Fundin, at yours."—he said, grasping the offered hand firmly.

Their firm handshake was suddenly interrupted by an awkward cough, which made the two of them swivel around towards the sound source. Upon realizing who exactly it was, Ori yanked her hand away, her cheek bright red once more. The man in the funny hat was looking at them with an unreadable expression on his face and then he was suddenly speaking, his voice serious and severe:

-"Who's this?"—he asked Ori.

The woman blushed even more as she looked between the two men in slight nervousness. She took a deep breath and answered in a steady voice, -"Bofur, this is Dwalin a—a friend of mine."—

The man in the hat hummed, staring at Dwalin as if he was assessing him or something. The man was looking at him so intently that the tattooed man was starting to feel uncomfortable and a bit angry. The hatted man's brown eyes were roving up and down his body, staring at his tattoo's and at his face for the longest of times before he humph'ed again and crossed his arms.

Dwalin's eye twitched, hands balled into fists. He then snapped out in an annoyed voice, –"And you are?"—

-"I am Bofur. Ori's boyfriend."— the man—Bofur—said matter of factly, and it felt as if Dwalin was punched in the gut with a war hammer.

Meanwhile Ori stuttered and blushed in mortification. She was fumbling with her hands rather badly as she opened and closed her mouth wanting to say something. The tension between the two men was great and she wanted to run and hide somewhere. The red head was confused and nervous and more than a little afraid because Dwalin was a giant compared to Bofur. Damn it! She needed to fix Bofur's idiocy! Although she didn't know why he had said that and why the tattooed man was acting the way he was.

Mahal, males were confusing as hell. She, without thinking straight, blurted out the first thing that came into her mind, -"No, he's not! He's not my boyfriend! He happens to be a boy...that is my friend! That is all!"—

Silence followed her statement.

Bofur looked like he was doing his very best not to laugh and keep his face serious, while Dwalin was looking amused and more than a little relieved.

She breathed in relief when the tension had eased, but as her words came back to her, she wanted to groan.

Shit, she had babbled again! It happened all the damn time, especially when she was nervous.

Right at that moment, Ori had never wanted to face palm herself more than at that moment.

* * *

 _A/N2: Hello! I hope you are all doing alright! I am posting a day earlier since I am in my finals and I have to start studying tomorrow. Wish me luck! Anyway, thanks so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am very happy that you are all liking it up until now and I hope you will continue to do so._


	6. Mission II: Meet at a random place

**_A/N:_**

 ** _Hello~ Chapter 6 here._**

 ** _WARNINGS: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, JUST THE STORY LINE I AM TWISTING HERE._**

 ** _WARNING FOR CHAPTER: MENTIONS OF VIBRATORS_**

 ** _I hope you enjoy it~_**

* * *

Chapter six: _Mission II: Meeting in a random place: Plastic Paradise_

 _Three weeks later_

-"No, Bella. I refuse. I adamantly and absolutely refuse." Ori exclaimed her eyes wide and horrified as she stared her dearest friend as if seeing her for the first time.

-"Come on, I promise you won't even notice him here."—Bella wanted to cackle in glee, but to her credit, she didn't. She simply smiled pleadingly at the red haired woman, knowing that eventually she would say yes. She—they—just had to make her say yes, somehow. The green eyed woman tightened the hold on the strong arm she was holding onto and said in a pleading tone and a mischievous smile on her lips, -"I need his opinion. Pleaaaaaaaaasee?"—

The freckled, ginger woman wanted to slam her head onto something hard, as she had been wishing to do as if late.

She knew that her friend was, at most times, incredibly outgoing, even more so with people she absolutely and completely trusted. But…this was beyond ridiculous! How could she—with him, go into this—there were many—GAH! Her brain hurt just thinking about it and she was sure that it would be soon when one of her blood vessels would finally explode in regards to how much she was actually blushing. Mahal blessed, this was incredibly stupid and frustrating and oh so mortifying.

Ori groaned, putting her face in her hands, watching in between the gap of her fingers as her two friends smirked knowingly at each other. _Hmph_ , so they _were_ indeed planning something! She knew it and unlike popular belief, she was not stupid. She knew her best friend and every time she got sneaky it was because she had a plan. Of course, it had taken less than a month for her to realize that something was up with Bella and her boyfriend, but the point is that she had figured it out. She didn't yet know what was it that the two devils were planning, but she was going to: soon enough. And by the looks of it, she was the main victim of whatever it was they were planning. Great, Ori thought. Hopefully, the ginger woman thought, they won't try to set me up with another weirdo like Thorin's cousin, Dain.

He was similar to Dwalin in many ways, now that she thought about it. Dain just lacked the…moves and the seductive way the other moved.

Ori shivered. Mahal, she really hoped that was not the case and she should definitely not compare them. She didn't know if her brain could take meaningless hours of inane chit chat.

Her train of thought was interrupted when the male voice that she had grown used to hearing hanging about said, -"I promise I won't look at you weird, Ori. That is, if you don't laugh at me."

Ori smirked up at Thorin, amusement running out of her pores. The two of them had become pretty good friends lately, he was being friendlier towards her and he was treating her like an actual human being. It was because of this that Ori knew many of the things that made the man become annoyed and she had made it her life goal to fuck the man up with her mare words, expressions or actions. It provided a good laugh for both, Bella and her, so why not keep doing it? Besides, he enjoyed their friendly banter as much as she did, he just liked to deny it because he knew that most of the times the shy girl was the one who came out victorious in their banter. Still, it was one thing to banter with the man in a normal place, than to go into a place like…this.

Ori grimaced out a smile, -"Right. Look, as much as I've grown to…appreciate your presence, that doesn't mean that I am willing to take this huge step with you, no matter what Bella says."—

The woman in questions snorted and smirked up at her friend, -"Ori, it's not like we are asking you to do a threesome with us. Geez, don't be silly."—Bella rolled her eyes gently at the red head. –"We just want to go check this store out with you because of the amazing reviews we've seen on the place."—

Thorin nodded, -"Exactly. Beside it is perfectly a perfectly normal need, we won't think any less of you because of this."—

She simply wanted to die from embarrassment. Why? Why couldn't those two not understand that although she was embarrassed about herself, she was mostly dreading the reaction the store might probably rip from them? Why couldn't they see it? Heck if Ori was honest to herself, the two of them probably knew this and just wanted to become sufficiently… _hot and bothered_ to go and have a round of sex. Mahal…she's going to have to hang out with with Bofur, maybe even go to work early... Ori shuddered; she really did not want to stumble upon them going at it again. Just…no…it was disturbing to see her two friends like that, so no.

Ori peeked up at the couple and she groaned again. –"Fine! Fine, but the two of you owe me, big time!"—

-"Yes, of course! Anything you want."—Thorin and Bella answered simultaneously, their eyes wide and bright.

She made a sound of distress. _Why_ , Mahal? **_Why?_**

The couple smirked and quickly entered the shop, chattering away like excited children as they did so. Meanwhile, Ori hesitated for a little bit, glaring hatefully at the cheerful sign that stated, **_Plastic Paradise._**

The shop looked fancy enough, a wooden door, the outside painted in a bone white color, all very professional looking. If one were to look at the simple looking shop, one wouldn't think much about it. But the name of the shop, done in curled letters that seemed seductive enough to lure you inside, was the only thing that was odd of the place. When you knew what was inside of those fancy looking stone walls, one was able to finally make the connection with the name.

Damn.

She really hated Bella and her plans sometimes.

And so taking a deep breath, the red haired woman marched towards the door and without really thinking about it much, entered the ominous looking shop.

* * *

Bifur was a serious looking guy, but in reality he was a very nice person once you got through the harsh façade he always wore. He was a hard working man and being the owner of a very serious business demanded that he be just like that. He was a business man and a creator, he enjoyed making toys and he had eventually made a job out of it. The most damn successful company of toys in the whole country. Many people had looked at him as if he were mad when he had told them about his dream but now, being where he was at, he couldn't help but feel thankful to those people who tried to push him down. He had made them look like fools, so that was always a plus.

As a boss he was a very strict man when it came to his job and he demanded his employees to conduct themselves in a way that made him and the company look good. He wanted the best of the best of his employees and it was because of that that his business was flourishing as it was.

The door bell ding'ed and he had to withhold a pleased smirk. Another customer. No, scratch that, _three_ new costumers. He gestured at his best employee and with a smirk he watched the man go towards the trio.

Bifur was used to seeing a lot of different people with very different tastes, so it did not come as a shock to see a group of three people in his shop. It was actually more normal than what people thought, so he was no longer surprised because of this. He had learned a long time ago that in this business one needed to have an open mind in order to further it. And further it he did. In all truthfulness, he found it actually interesting, the trio thing. And the black haired man sure had good taste. The two young women, one a brown haired woman with stunning hazel eyes and the other a ginger haired one with chocolate brown eyes, were indeed beautiful.

The owner of the store noticed almost immediately how the red haired woman was looking at his employee and he had to hide a smirk behind his hand. She looked so stunned, the poor lass. Yeah, he was a huge man indeed, pretty intimidating with all those tattoos and bulging muscles the lad had. It was no shock to see the young woman look completely stupefied. An amused quiet cackle escaped his lips when the young woman started to redden from the tips of her ears all the way to her neck.

The black haired man and the hazel eyed beauty smirked to one another and left to another isle, leaving his employee and the girl alone in what seemed to be an awkward silence. Bifur heard the tattooed man that worked for him clear his throat uncomfortably and stutter out something, trying to find something interesting to say and it was then that his mind was made up.

He put the finishing touches on the toy he was making and smiled, it was finished. He carefully cleaned it with a soft cloth and wrapped it in tissue paper before putting it into a small, non descript bag. After placing the bag in his pocket, Bifur made his way to his stuttering employee, smiling kindly at the still blushing woman.

-"Hello, welcome to **_Plastic Paradise_**. How may we help you? Is there something specific you are looking for, ma'am?"—Bifur said professionally.

-"U-Umm…uhmm—" the ginger stuttered, embarrassed beyond relief and suddenly,

-"Actually yes, we are looking for vibrators, aren't we Ori?"—the hazel eyes woman said, smiling confidently at Bifur.

His employee sputtered and the ginger reddened even more. Smiling wider at the blunt woman, he gestured to the tattooed man to guide the lady and the black haired man toward the isle that contained the items that were requested while he walked beside the ginger haired woman, Ori. –"Is there something specific you are looking for?"—

"I-I…umm—Not—"

Once again, the hazel eyed woman interrupted with a slight glare in the other's direction. –"Not really, we are actually just looking. Can you tell us which one is the best? Perhaps the one that is selling the most? Do they have special features?"—

Bifur chuckled, impressed with the girl's excitement. Upon hearing his chuckle, the hazel eyed woman looked down in embarrassment but still managed to look up through her lashes questioningly at him. Smiling, the owner of the store proceeded to answer as best as he could, -"There are many types that we offer, in many sizes and with different porpuses. The best selling one is the outside stimulating vibrator, which, as the name states, stimulates the clitoris of the user. They come in different colors and sizes too, if you don't want them to be of a boring color and want to spice things up. The reviews for that product are that it is very good and the end result satisfying."—

Both women were listening to the words falling from his mouth in rapt attention, their faces a mix of embarrassment and curiosity. Bifur kept on going, deciding to not make the situation more uncomfortable for the two girls. –"If you'd like, I can show you the models we are offering and the intensity of the vibrations."—

The minutes passed on and Bifur watched with growing amusement as the two females giggled and whispered to one another as they went about the merchandise. Ori kept throwing shy glances at his employee and his employee was trying very hard not to blush and look at the woman directly in the eye. It was odd for Bifur to see him act in such a way, he was usually so detached and collected but with this small red head, he just came apart like a badly woven fleece. It was amusing to watch him fidget from foot to foot, trying to make his growing bulge less unnoticeable. The dark haired man, who was smirking knowingly at his employee, had noticed his little problem too, which made the smirk grow even wider.

Suddenly the tensed and amused atmosphere was broken when the hazel eyed woman exclaimed with a mischievous smile on her lips, -"We'll take these!"—Ori buried her face in her hands in embarrassment and his employee, who was standing quietly watching the proceedings, made a small sound and left the isle abruptly, his pace hurried. The black haired man and the woman holding the toys smirked triumphantly to one another and it was then when Bifur realized that this had all been a plan from the start. The businessman looked in the direction where his employee had gone and back at the girl, Ori. Now he understood why he was so flustered when she had come in, they must've met beforehand. He winked at the couple and held out a finger and then said, -"If you go to the cash register there is someone that can help you with the purchase of the items."—

The couple nodded and quickly walked away, leaving the dark eyed businessman alone with the young woman. –"Hey, are you okay?"—

Ori took a deep breath, -"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I am. Sorry 'bout that."—

Bifur waved a careless hand, a small smile on his face. "It's normal for first timers to get embarrassed, don't worry about it. I want to apologize for my employee's bad treatment of you ladies, so I am giving you this."—he took the relatively small bag from his pocket. –"Consider it an apology gift."—

The red haired woman opened her mouth, clearly to deny the gift, but the hazel eyed woman that was accompanying her called out that they were leaving. Ori nodded her head and quickly snatched the bag before stuffing it into her bag. Bifur gently grabbed the arm of the young woman before she could leave and then said in a playful whisper, -"It is the exact replica of my rude employee, keep that in mind."—The girl nodded in confusion but nevertheless left. He smiled and nodded his farewells to the trio,

-"Thanks so much for visiting. Please come by again."-

* * *

By the time the trio got to the girl's apartments, Ori's curiosity was burning as she all but ran up the stairs of their shared apartment and into her room. She slammed her door shut, took her bag, opened it and took the plastic bag out.

She then proceeded to stare at it for a long time, trying to figure out, without opening it, what it was.

What could it be? _Was it an action figure?_

 _Or perhaps a sculpture of some sorts?_

 _Was it something completely different?_

Ori huffed out in annoyance. She didn't know why the heck the owner of Plastic Paradise would give her something as a gift. It was confusing and completely frustrating. What was up with that? Yeah, he seemed like a very open minded and eccentric person but why and what was in that damning, taunting bag? He hadn't given one free gift to Bella, now did he!?

Mahal be alive, why did all the weird things happen to her?

And what was up with the creepy comment at the end. _-"It is the exact replica of my rude employee, keep that in mind."—_ Could it be-?

Her brown eyes widened and she suddenly became dizzy. It was as if the world was tilting sideways, shoving her into a precipice with no parachute or rope or whatever. The air had been knocked out of her lungs, making her hands tremble and her eyes widen almost comically. No, no, no. Surely that was wrong. Perhaps it was a medium sized sculpture or something of the similar nature after all.

One of her hands was reaching for the bag without her permission and she stopped. Did she really want to see what was in it? Ori bit her lip. Yes, she realized, yes she did. It made her sound like a total creep who was in need of great shagging, but she refused to let herself think that. She was curious about the man and she was going to take whatever piece of information she got her hands on (she blushed, rather badly too as her thoughts ran away from her and the topic at hand. DAMN IT!) that concerned the man.

Ever so slowly, Ori Ri inched her hand closer to the package and it was with trembling hands that she picked it up and carefully took the—whatever it was out of the wrapped paper.

Upon seeing it, four things happened in quick succession:

One: _her mouth dropped open in shock._

Two: _her eyes widened._

Three: _She got dizzy_

Four: _her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she fainted._

* * *

 ** _A/N2: Hahaha! How was it? I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It was hilarious imagining how awkward it must have been. Poor Ori though, she fainted. xD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this guys! Keep it up with your finals, summer is almost there guys! DOn't give UP!_**


	7. Mission III: A Dash of Bonding Time

_**A/N: I do not own the characters, simply the story line. :D**_

* * *

Chapter seven: _Mission III: A dash of bonding time_

Although everything was fun, games and total awkwardness in the past couple of few weeks, the couple (Thorin and Bella) decided to get serious with their planning. Yes, it was incredibly hilarious to see their friends salivate for one another and be totally awkward when it was their time to talk to each other, but they genuinely wanted their friends to be together. As in a couple that were very much in love, not only because of the very obvious sexual attraction happening between the two, but because they were perfect for each other.

Sure there were many things they could do, but they wanted to prove a point here. They wanted to show everyone that had a doubt about the two clueless friends of theirs being perfect for one another, that Dwalin was actually a very gentle brute and that Ori was more than a shy, small girl.

The question then, my friends, is not what could they do but _what_ could they _do_? It was more than obvious that whatever they did had to be something special but not overbearing, simple but not cheap and interesting but not academic like.

Mahal seemed to shine a light upon the plotting couple when the idea seemed to come as an answered prayer in the form of Ori Ri herself.

The red head was looking harried and ragged as she practically ran through the door. Her clothes were wrinkled and stained with paint and the bags under her eyes were…well huge. Under each of her arms a bunch canvases were held as she looked around the living room for a place to put them. Bella walked towards her and quietly helped the red head place the paintings in a corner of the room. Thorin, meanwhile, looked on puzzled, not really understanding what the paintings were for or the fact that it was Ori who had painted them.

Bella saw his expression and it was with a small smile that the green eyed woman said, "Ori is an artist."

The woman in question huffed in slight irritation at this, running both of her paint stained hands through her short ginger hair. She slumped tiredly on the nearest couch and then said: "Yes, what she said. And today I have an exposition. I have been painting nonstop for the past two weeks. Mahal help me, I am beat!"

"I didn't know you painted, Ori!" Thorin said impressed by the new knowledge he had gained of his friend. "That is great!"

"I do; ever since I was a little girl actually." Ori said, smiling kindly, if tiredly, at him. "I love it."

"What is this exposition going to be about?" Bella asked and smirked when her friend blushed.

Ori leaned sideways on the couch, placing her head on a pillow as she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Ah…I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see for yourself, Bella. I can tell you the name I decided upon though. It's going to be called _'Appasionata'._ "

"What inspired the paintings?" Thorin asked as he gestured to the couple of paintings he could see from where he was sitting.

"Uhm…" Ori stuttered. "You'll definitely notice when you see—" the woman drifted off, her brown eyes closing slowly as her tiredness took over. The man smiled knowingly at the dozing woman. She honestly looked like shit and he didn't blame her for falling asleep. Thorin turned towards his girlfriend, intending to talk to Bella about the paintings when he was suddenly startled by a loud exclamation and a painful sounding thud.

"Holy SHIT, I'm going to be late!" The young woman, dear readers, jumped up the floor like a woman possessed by an otherworldly being and ran towards her room, leaving behind a very disgruntled Thorin and an amused Bella. The couple sat with a slight frown on their faces as they heard Ori get ready and mumbling to herself in her room. They both knew that their friend was running only on pure strength of will and caffeine, so they hoped that the night could go quickly for her so she could get some much needed sleep.

Ori came out of her room a changed woman, quite literally. Gone were the bags under her eyes (covered by the almighty makeup), her ginger hair was brushed and styled. Long gone were the paint stains on her arms and fingers and she wore a green dress that complimented her skin tone and the color of her hair. The young artist opened her arms slightly and twirled around, looking a little unsure. "What do you think? Is this good?"

Bella smiled, "It looks great Ori. Oh! Wait, lucky ring! Now, it's perfect."

The red head smiled and nodded, quietly asking for their help with the paintings.

Silence reigned for a long while after that, even as they mechanically helped Ori get her paintings in her car and told her that yes, they would indeed be there at 9:00 o'clock sharp. The two sat once more in the comfy couch, not looking at anything in particular. Hours passed and even the quiet permeated the air as the couple sat in contemplative silence. _Perhaps, if they could—yes that would be brilliant. If only the man would—yes, he could always be persuaded into it. But then again there would surely be—Hmm, nothing they couldn't handle._

They had a plan formed.

And so it was with a hopeful smile that he two nodded, solemn and silent, as they got up from their seats and head to Bella's room in order to get ready for both, the exposition and the execution of the plan.

* * *

"You drive like a grandmother. Heck, I bet my whole money that grandmamma drives faster than you!"

Dori Ri tut tutted at his brother for what seemed to be the millionth time in the past forty minutes the car ride had lasted. And Nori was sure that the man would be dead were he another person. Unfortunately, he was a man guided by his moral code. And in his moral code you don't kill family, even if the annoy the fuck out of you.

So he had to suck it up until they finally got to the place. Either that or kill himself.

Thankfully enough, the place was just around the corner and Nori, being completely done with the annoying sound coming from his older brother's lips every five seconds, practically flew out of the car as soon as Dori parked. He completely ignored the yelled command to wait and the loud insults that followed when he disregarded the order. His mind was now focused on the fact that he was going to see two of the most important people in his life:

His little sister and his husband.

He had not seen the two for a whole month and it honestly felt as if he would go mad if he stayed alone with Dori for one more second. The two of them had a talent that he lacked, the talent of making Dori less overbearing than he usually was. With this in mind, the serious looking man hurried his steps, knowing that his older brother would be onto him the second he caught up with him and he wanted to be close to his sister when that happened, thank you very much.

As he walked, he noticed that the place his sister has chosen for the exhibition was a comfy little place. There were wood panels and cream colored walls, lots of brightness and big crystal windows that allowed you to see what was going on outside. These were three of the things that he was sure his sister adored. It was a place where one could relax and enjoy the amazing art that she had made. He was sure that the pieces were exquisite; they had always been; even when her drawings were that of dragons and mystical imaginings of children.

An excited exclamation reached his ears and it was with a wide smile that he opened his arms to embrace his sister warmly. "Hey there, kiddo! It's been so damn long since I've seen your face."

Ori giggled in his arms. "Yeah, way too long. Where's Dori?"

"Nori Ri!" the man in question winced, making Ori giggle once more at her brother's antics. "How many times do I have to tell you to—Ori!"

The oldest of the Ri came forward and hugged the smiling girl to his chest, immediately fussing over her and asking her a million questions a minute. The young woman smiled indulgently at his brother as she tried to answer all the questions that were being thrown at her.

"Yes, Dori, I am flossing! Every day, as a matter of fact!" Ori laughed in slight exasperation and amusement.

An amused snort sounded from behind them. "Really Dori, give the girl a break. You have not being here what, half an hour and you're already asking invasive questions? In-cre-dible."

The siblings smirked at the amused tone, knowing full well that it was well met, but it was Nori's smile that seemed brighter and all the more wider. The man spun around, smile getting wider when his brown eyes fell upon the figure of his husband, "Bofur!" The two embraced warmly for a long while, kissing each other briefly in greeting as they babbled and teased one another.

"Ah, to be young and in love. Right Ori?" Dori said, turning to look at his sister for confirmation. Instead he found that his sister was blushing madly and coughing into her closed fist awkwardly.

 _'_ _Curious.'_

"R-Right." Ori stuttered awkwardly. "I need to go and make sure that the guests are welcomed. I hope you enjoy the exposition!"

 _'_ _Very curious indeed'._

* * *

Balin was skeptical about the whole going out thing to an art exposition thing.

Not because he didn't enjoy going to exposition but because he had developed a very specific taste in all things art. Of course, being the highly intelligent man he was, he was very picky with what he liked and what not, brutally honest and critical too, which basically hindered him from appreciating different styles of art. This together with the fact that he did not know the artist was another thing that made him hesitant to go too; after all he did not want to hurt said artist's sensibilities.

In the end, the white haired man decided to go if only because his brother had asked him to accompany him. The usually serious man that was his brother had looked nervous and more than a little unsure which, of course, prompted the older man to become incredibly curious. Also because Thorin promised that the artist was amazing and getting a compliment from that man was compliment itself, so Balin was intrigued.

Right about now, the scholarly man was trying his hardest to not laugh at the disgusted expression that decorated his brother's face as he looked at his tux clad reflection. "Come off it, Dwalin. You look fine."

"Don' like it. Makes me feel like a ponce dressed like a clown." Dwalin declared with an irritated huff, which made an amused chuckle escape Balin's lips.

"Stop your whining we're going to be late! I am sure that Thorin will be here any minute, you know he has a thing with punctuality…" the doorbell chimed. "Ah, speaking of the devil."

Balin opened the door and smiled at the couple standing at the other side of the door and motioned them in with a kind wave, "Come in, come in! I'm sure Dwalin will end his sulking soon enough."

As soon as the man finished speaking, Dwalin walked down the stairs fiddling with his tie and grumbling under his breath about 'stupid fancy dress codes'. Thorin chuckled and Bella squealed slightly upon seeing him, which made the man look up and glare at the two of them. The tattooed man gave up on trying fixing his tie and Bella quickly stepped forward and helped him.

Deciding that she should start the plan right away, Bella looked mischievously up at her boyfriend's friend and said as casually as she could, "Oh, I am sure that Ori will love your outfit Dwalin."

The man sputtered and reddened.

His brother, meanwhile, looked on with a questioning gaze.

"Who's Ori? Explain to me why she will like the way my brother is dressed? Is there something I am missing?"

Thorin opened his mouth to answer the scholar but the bearded man beat him to it. "Shut it, you! Let's go, we're gon' be late."

-0000-

Bella and Thorin were not sure their plan was going to work.

Why? Well, let's list the reasons shall we?

 _One_ : they didn't expect the place to be as full as it was (no offense to Ori's talent).

 _Two_ : The woman in question was nowhere to be seen.

 _Three_ : Dwalin had been dragged away by a suddenly interested Balin.

 _Four_ : The couple was sure that Ori was being tailed by her very overprotective brother.

And _five_ : Said brother would totally flip when seeing the intimidating figure that Dwalin posed.

All in all, things were looking grim and the couple was despairing. Thankfully for them Mahal seemed to be, once again, in favor of their plan to get their idiot friends together because Ori suddenly appeared out of the crowd, looking bright eyed and wearing a huge grin. She hugged the two of them warmly and proceeded to ask what they thought of the paintings.

Bella's eyes widened in slight glee and smirked, yes perfect! "Oh, I love it, Ori! It's different from your usual style, clearly inspired by the anatomy of a specific male."

Unfortunately, or rather not so unfortunately, for Ori, Dwalin and his brother were walking towards them deep in conversation. Knowing the white haired man as they did, the two of them knew that Balin would immediately pick up on who Ori was as soon as he heard her talk about the paintings and what inspired them; and by the looks of it will pay attention to whatever she said regarding her art.

And so it was with a gleeful smile on both of their faces that Thorin and Bella watched the events unfold through a beautiful and almost fateful point of view. "Oh yes! I was really inspired by Dwalin's physique, that's for sure, but not simply for the physical aspects of his body but the almost surreal demeanor of it. He is such a complex person, both personally and in…in a _macho handsomeness_ that I just _had_ to."

Balin, who had been listening to the young artist talk, was looking at his brother with wide and slightly amused eyes. Dwalin, on the other hand, was staring transfixed at the red head, looking as if it was the first time that he had stopped and stared at the woman he had met a mere month ago.

Oblivious to her very avid small audience, Ori continued speaking, eyes bright with passion and delight. "It may sound frivolous when put that way, but I tried my best to portray not only the obvious beauty the man so clearly possesses but the strength of character he seems to breathe out of his system and highlight the gentleness that is underneath the hard core that he projects." She fell silent for a little while, biting her lip lightly as she thought, "Now that I think about it, I also tried to portray how far and out of reach he seems to be, which is why in the paintings everything seem to be so very far…"

Their two friends were silent, one looking to be lost in thought, the other looking shocked and more than a little honored. Balin, who quickly realized what his brother's expression meant, smiled kindly at the oblivious young woman. He gently but firmly pushed Dwalin towards the girl and then proceeded to force everyone away from the two. His eyes spoke murder, which was enough to scare the small audience into moving away from the two and give them a little bit of privacy.

The tattooed man cleared his throat. Ori spun around.

The two stared at each other for the longest of time, each gradually going redder in the face.

And then: "Uhm…how long have you been standing there?"

Dwalin coughed awkwardly. "Err, enough."

More silence. The exotic dancer took a deep fortifying breath, then said the first thing that popped into his brain, which happened to be: "Your, uh, gallery is amazing, Ori."

The red head smiled, "Oh, really?" Dwalin nodded. "Is it because they feature you and your "machoness"?"

Deep laughter rumbled out of Dwalin, shocking Ori for a little while before the butterflies seemed to go wild in her stomach. She liked that laugh and she wouldn't mind hearing it again and again for as long as she could. He then said with a teasing smirk upon is lips, "Why yes, I always do enjoy seeing paintings of meself; 'specially so if they're done by a beautiful woman."

Ori blushed bright and smiled up at the man. "Oh yeah?"

"Yep. You know…I think it's time for ye and me ta finally talk."

A blinding smile came his way, "Yeah, maybe we should."

The two had been, unknowingly, drifting closer to each other. Their eyes widened in slight shock when warm breath hit their faces but neither really backed away or wanted to as a matter of fact. Small smiles graced their faces as they were intent on closing the small gap that separated their lips. Just when the two a hairs breadth away from tasting each other's lips a scandalized squeal echoed throughout the place the art exposition was taking place.

Ori groaned miserably.

Dwalin grunted in disappointment.

"ORIANNA RI! WHAT THE BLOODY HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

* * *

 ** _A/N2: Sorry for the late update, but I was honestly stuck in what to do next. To say that I received help in the most unexpected form is an understatement. Nevertheless, I am happy with how it turned out. Not completely in love with it but...the ending is cute. :33 xD I hope you enjoy it!_**


	8. A dash of bondi--WAIT WHAT?

**_A/N: Hello, inspiration hit early! Welcome to chapter eight!_**

 ** _Inspired by the songs "Dangerous Woman" of Ariana Grande and "Pillowtalk" by Zayn._**

 ** _WARNINGS: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS, ONLY THE STORY LINE._**

 ** _WARNING FOR CHAPTER: WELL...SEXY TIMEEE!_**

 _ **Enjoy the chapter lovelies~**_

* * *

Chapter eight: _A dash of bondi—WAIT WHA-?!_

Now before we continue this growing love story there are a few things you must know beforehand. The main couple of this story are two very unique individuals that have been marked by past experiences.

As I am sure I've mentioned before, (if not I apologize deeply for the misinformation, readers) sweet little Ori was bullied when she was but a small lass because she had no mother or any parental figure so to speak. This of course, marked her deeply as it would even more so when the other children, more fortunate than she, unfortunately threw mocking insults at her because of her state. Being shunned by kids her age, Ori had no choice but to immerse herself in the books and in her art, talking only with her brothers and the few adults she had in her life. Not that this was a very bad thing to do, after all, it was because of this that she is now the top of her class and an amazing artist. Although this experience made a very lonely childhood for her but it could be worse, right?

On the other hand, Dwalin was not bullied but he grew up with parents that expected him to be the perfect little son he could be. The pressure on kid Dwalin had been great and he had strived to be the best he could. His parents, unfortunately, didn't see the effort he put into everything he did and were not satisfied. Instead of praise he often found more demands thrown his way and eventually…well, he got tired. That was when the man decided to dance exotically, the pay was good and beside that it pissed off his parents, so all was good.

Neither had even thought that they would meet one another the way they had. It was bizarre and, honestly, more than movie like.

The fact that the two of them had found each other at that exact time was fated, I am sure. For these two idiots, I mean lovebirds, were created by Mahal himself to be together. They were each other's One.

Isn't that romantic? I mean surely it is! But, they are making things incredibly complicated, are they not? And when they are about to finally kiss for the first time in months, Dori Ri comes about and ruins it with his world famous screeches! Dear me, if only the man could shut up and keep his wits to himself for just one second tht would make me—

Ahem, I apologize. That was very un-narrator of me.

Yes, now as I was saying, right about now—

 _"_ _Ohh, Dwalin. Yes, yes harder~"_

Well, I, um, apologize. That wasn't me, mind you. It seems that our protagonists are having a moment here without my knowing and it makes for an—

 _"_ _F-Fuck! Mahal Ori—"_

Oh dear. Well, this is incredibly unprofessional. I am truly very sorry. I honestly don't know what happened here. As I, um, was saying—there must be a mistake here, why if only last chapter the two of them were talking! For everything that's holy, the two of them were interrupted by Dori's hysterics, how—No, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!? Excuse me, I need to check my notes—

Aha!

Yes, it seems to me as if there were a couple of notes that _someone_ forgot to give me. What a way to make me look bad in front of the readers!

 _"_ _I'm—I'm going to—FUCK!"_

 _"_ _Mmmm, yes, yes, Dwalin yes!"_

Hmph.

Fine, have it your way! See if I ever do anything for _you_ again!

Since the author was _so_ kind, please note my sarcasm here, as to lend me this much unread notes, why don't we both discover just what the fuck happened between the two for them to be going at it as they so obviously are.

* * *

 _"ORIANNA RI! WHAT THE BLOODY HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"_

Ori smiled sheepishly at the tattooed man but on the inside she was screaming wildly at her stomping brother. As calmly as she could, she excused herself from a blushing Dwalin momentarily, before she spun on her heel to face her flustered brother. The face she must've been making surely was fierce because when her brother saw it, he faltered on his steps momentarily. He quickly composed himself but his steps held a bit of hesitancy that made the young woman smile coldly at her brother.

She met her brother halfway and with a strength that she almost never used or showed, gripped Dori's shoulder as she smiled kindly at him. "Perhaps, Dori, we should talk." The man in questions gulped and winced slightly when the grip on his shoulder tightened minutely. And so it was with a small nod, that the two started to walk towards a more private and secluded space, which ended up an empty office.

"What the heck is your problem?" Ori asked in agitation. She knew she was being rude and also knew that later on she would feel incredibly guilty about it, but she couldn't help it. Her levels of frustration were so incredibly high that a part of her brain was marveling at how long she had lasted without snapping at someone.

"You can't just kiss the first person that you see!" Dori exploded, his face reddening brighter as he yelled. "And drawing males!? WHO THE HECK IS THAT DWALIN GUY YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT!?"

"The first person I see?" Ori laughed hysterically, grasping fistfuls of her ginger hair. "He's not _'the first person I see'_ , damn it!"

"Then who is he, Orianna? Is he your boyfriend?" Dori demanded, waving his arms around as he tried to figure out just who the heck that guy could be. He thought that it seemed very out of character for Ori to get angry over him interrupting a moment between her and a male. A sudden thought came unbidden into his mind but he decided to ignore it. "Well?"

The artist ran her hands through her hair, messing it up from her perfect hairstyle. She groaned miserably, "Dori…he's my One. Oh Mahal, Dwalin is my One!"

As soon as Ori said those words, she knew them to be true. She immediately knew that Dwalin, the guy she met the day of her birthday, the guy that with a smile danced with her and later on gave her a lap dance. The same guy who had kissed her and asked her in a lust filled voice what was it she wanted, the man who had all but had sex with her with clothes on and the very guy whom she had left with a hard on. Not only that, but he was the guy who she dreamed of, the guy whom made her heart beat so fast she got dizzy and he was the guy whose shape of dick she had as a sex toy in her drawer!

She had drawn him, to the T.

She had stared so deeply into his eyes so much that she had memorized the exact shade of brown his eyes were.

She had gotten tongue tied when in his presence. She had stuttered and made a complete fool of herself.

Heck, she had leaned into the man in order to kiss the lights out of him mere minutes ago for fucks sake!

Her panicked eyes met Dori's and the eldest Ri couldn't help but smile in amusement at his little sister. It seemed as if he had been right after all, he had hoped though—No, he won't think like that. His sister deserved all the happiness in the world and if this Dwalin guy was it, then who he to judge the match Mahal made. He would, though, be talking with the man soon enough to make sure that he understood that he wasn't allow to hurt his sister in any way.

Ori's eyes were filling with tears and Dori's heart broke a little. Damn it! This was supposed to be a joyous experience for her but instead she was unsure and more than a little panicked. Dori opened his arms with a look of understanding on his face and his youngest sibling, rushed into his embrace. "I'm sorry, Ori. I didn't know he was your One. I panicked…Hey, no, no don't cry Ori! This is supposed to be an exciting day for you!"

"I know." Ori sniffed. "But what if he doesn't like me enough? What if-?"

Dori placed a finger on Ori's quivering lips. "Ori, he's your one. Of course he likes you enough, probably more than if the way he was looking at you was telling enough." His sister blushed and he smiled knowingly. "Now tell me, how did you meet this guy?"

"Weeeeell, that is a, uhm, long story."

Dori raised an unimpressed brow. "I have time. Believe me, Ori, I do. There is nothing you can say that can shock me, Nori beat you, I'm sure."

"Right."

-000-

Half an hour later sister and brother came into the exhibition, one wearing a huge smirk the other one trying, and failing, to get rid of the flustered blush that was staining his cheeks. The two walked towards the group that was obviously waiting for them and as soon as they got there, questions started being thrown around.

"What happened?"

"Dori are you okay?"

"What was that all about, Ori?"

"Did you two have a fight?"

Ori smiled sheepishly as she raised her hands. A small blush started to appear on her cheeks as she looked at her brother. She cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, we just had an, ah misunderstanding. Nothing serious, it is all sorted and dealt with."

Upon looking around, Ori found that she wanted to groan for Nori, her sneaky brother and his husband Bofur were talking to a solemn looking Dwalin. The tattooed man was attentively listening to what, by the looks of it, seemed to be calmly dished out threats by both men with slight amusement in his eyes. He nodded and answered at the right times and Ori was kind of thankful for that. If the man wasn't scared off by Nori's threats, then there was possibly nothing that could shake him from her side. And that was good.

 _Her One._ A small shiver ran down her spine.

It sounded surreal to even think about the man as such. Nevertheless it felt _so_ _right_.

The red head shook her head with a small smile gracing her features. Perhaps it is time to save her One from her brother's protective clutches, she thought to herself before slowly making her way towards him. Once close enough, she cleared her throat and was pleased to notice that the three men blushed in slight embarrassment.

"Come on a guy, that's enough. Leave the poor man alone, would you?" Ori teased with a small smile.

Nori cleared his throat, bringing the flute of champagne he had just snatched to his lips. "Yeah, well I need ta make sure he treats ya right, don't I?"

Ori and Dwalin blushed and looked at each other before awkwardly looking away. "Right."

Smirking at the suddenly nervous couple, Bofur said: "Well, we shall leave you. Like you, we have certain business to get over." The man winked knowingly. Meanwhile, Nori made the 'I am watching you' gesture to Dwalin and led his husband away with a small smirk on his lips.

"Sorry about that, my brother's can be a bit…overwhelming; especially when there is someone close to me. Hehe, the want to know if they are worthy first hand." The artist said, looking down at her feet. "I mean, not that we are close or anything, um! Not that I don't want to be close, but if you don' want to it's okay too. I'd totally understand if you don't—"

The man placed a finger to her lips, looking amused. "Ori stop. I'd be more than honored if ye allow me ta be close ta you, lassie."

"Oh" was all Ori could say as she looked up at the man. A bright smile appeared on her lips. Dwalin felt himself smile back at the artist.

"Perhaps we could do something after the exhibition is done?" the bearded man asked tentatively.

"Yes! I mean, yes would be lovely."

"Great! I'll wait for ya here, maybe help ya pack up when it's done."

"Okay. That…that would be much appreciated."

-000-

The exhibition was long over, the people who had assisted the event left satisfied and more than one left with a painting clutched under their arm. But even thought the place was seemingly deserted, laughter echoed in the empty place.

The lights were dim, the walls were bare of the paintings that hours ago decorated them and the floors were devoid of people stepping upon them. Nevertheless, a couple was sitting in a corner, surrounded by wads of blank paper, pencils and bottles of champagne strewn about near them. The two had talked about anything that came to their mind, the space, the meaning of life, even what it meant to die; all in order to get to know each other better. As they talked they drank champagne and as a result of spending hours talking and drinking, the two of them were pissed drunk; which amused the hell out of the both of them.

Right about now, Ori guffawed loudly when Dwalin, who insisted to be drawn once more and in person, stroke a ridiculous pose. The woman fell slightly back, clutching at her sides as the tattooed man tried and failed, due to his drunkenness, to imitate one of the Calvin Klein poses.

"Damn it, Imma failing, ain't I?" Dwalin asked gruffly before laughing himself.

"Yep!" Ori answered between her laughter. "Here let me help you. You're looking for sexy, no?"

The man nodded with a chuckle and allowed Ori to move his body to the position she wanted. It took a while of moving and staring but when she finished; the artist was cursing herself under her breath. The man looked positively delicious in that pose and Ori was not sure whether she wanted to congratulate herself or slap herself. The man, noting that she was staring smiled goofily and then asked in a seductive purr, "Am I pretty yet?"

Ori laughed slightly and gave a lopsided smile. "Always, good sir."

Dwalin was leaning on the wall, his legs bent at the knees and slightly spread, showing off his powerful thighs. His one of his arms was cushioning his head from the wall while his other hand was close to the crotch area. His clothes were wrinkled and hugging his body tight, his eyes were bright and his body more than ready. All in all, the man looked mouth watering and Ori had to force herself to clinically watch him as she would any other model. The thing was this: he was no other model, he was her One.

A very sexy and tempting One, that is.

The man interrupted her thoughts when he asked her to wait a second. And Ori watched mesmerized as the man unbuttoned the first five buttons of his rumpled shirt, revealing the strong chest that the fabric hid from view. Not only that, but he unzipped his pants and lowered them a bit to add a bit of an effect. In the end, Ori's mind became blank as she all but ogled at the man a few feet from her with her mouth slightly agape and eyes wide.

Mahal be great, the man was great!

Scrambling towards the nearest pencil and scrap of paper, Ori sat diagonally from the man and immediately started to draw the man. Her gaze was sharp and insistent, drinking in the curves and planes of skin that the man had willingly revealed. She drunk in every hair, every birthmark and scar she could spot and in turn transferred them to the paper.

Throughout it all, his eyes were on fire and on her.

His strong body tense and taut as a bow ready to fire an arrow.

Lower and lower she drew, until her eyes fell on that teasing hand mere inch away from the crotch area. A shuddering breath escaped her lips; Ori closed her eyes. _Mahal._ She took a deep breath and held it for a while. She opened her eyes slowly and exhaled softly.

Deciding that it will be best not to stare at the man, she looked down at his drawing. It was coming along great, everything about it was perfect. Smiling slightly, Ori lifted her eyes to tell Dwalin just what she thoughts but her words literally died on her throat. Heat rushed through her from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair. A shiver wrecked her frame; the butterflies in her stomach were going wild.

Ori near whined and asked a she stared at the scene before her. The man in question had a hand under the waistband of his pants, his eyes lidded as he stared at her with his mouth slightly agape. His hand was moving slowly underneath his pants and he grunted, and the young woman almost whimpered herself. "D-Dwalin..?" As soon as she said his name, the man's eyes focused on her in a glare of passion and intensity. Ori gulped nervously. The man groaned and the artist licked her lips, fumbling with her pencil almost unconsciously.

"Fuck, Ori…" the man panted out, hand quickening.

Without really knowing what she was doing, Ori threw her drawing utensils away and proceeded to hastily crawl towards the man until their noses were almost touching. She was panting and shivering heavily with need, her brown eyes blazing at she stared at her One almost without blinking. The man shivered at the closeness and closed his eyes.

"Tell me," the young woman demanded as she panted. "Tell me what you want. What do I do?"

Dwalin's eyes snapped open and without saying a word, he crashed his lips with a shocked Ori's. After a few seconds of unresponsiveness, Ori moaned into the kiss as her mind all bus screamed 'Finally'. She kissed back with everything she got, tangling her hands into the back of the loose shirt. She crawled onto the man's lap and pressed herself flush to the strong body that had haunted her ever since that day. Dwalin grounded his hardness against her and Ori threw her head back in a loud moan. The man, seeing a golden opportunity, started to shower her neck with open mouthed kisses and licks that rattled every corner of her core.

As the man's lips explored her neck, her hands did some exploring of her own. Her hands quested, over a hard and manly chest, down the vast expanse of shapely abdomen until they finally found her prize. The man groaned and Ori shivered. She moved her hand experimentally up and down on the erect shaft and Dwalin thumped his head to the wall in pleasure. She did this a couple of times before she suddenly found herself pinned on the floor, Dwalin on top of her. His hands were running all over her body and Ori couldn't help the sounds that were escaping her lips.

"Dwalin—Please, please, please."

The man nodded and in one swift movement, his short was being thrown over his shoulder and his pants and underwear were being lowered to his knees. He gently and oh so slowly, started to take Ori's dress off, caressing the exposed skin as he did so. Once he took it off and threw it over his shoulder too, he lowered her underwear just as slowly.

The artist huffed in slight irritation and showed it by slapping his shoulder, thing that made the tattooed man chuckle in amusement. "Impatient, are we?"

"Shut up, I've been waiting for this moment for months!" Ori replied, crossing her arms and mock pouting up at the man.

Dwalin laughed the sound deep and gruff, which made Ori crack a smile too. She wrapped her legs on his hips and grinds herself on the man with a raised brow as if asking him _'Well, what are you waiting for?'_. The man growled and proceeded to ravish Ori's mouth. After a while of kissing, Dwalin leaned back to simply look down at Ori.

And Ori, not being able to wait for more, pushed the man back and lowered herself on the man's shaft. His hands immediately grasped her hips as the two of them moaned. The man then started to thrust into Ori, making her moan and writhe atop of him. Dwalin looked on mesmerized as she rode him. She lowered her lips to his neck and started to suck on it, making the little control he had left to finally evaporate. And so it was with a surge of adrenaline that Dwalin turned them around and continued to thrust into her, murmuring sweet nothing into her ear.

 _"_ _Ohh, Dwalin. Yes, yes harder~"_

Dwalin complied. Ori continued to babble incoherent words mixed with a plethora of profanity that only served to arouse him more and more. She dug her nails onto his bag and he moaned, loving the rough treatment. He could feel that he was close to his release and he told his One so. He gently scooped her up and pressed her closer to his body, as if shielding her from everything bad in the world.

 _"_ _I'm—I'm going to—FUCK!"_

 _"_ _Mmmm, yes, yes, Dwalin yes!"_

It was not surprising that the two of the came down their high together, screaming each other's name and clutching at each other. As they waited for their breath to come back to normal, Ori burrowed deeper into Dwalin's chest, softly kissing the skin that was available to him. The man was gently, lovingly, caressing her back in soothing circles.

Suddenly, Ori was leaning back, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Gently, her hands came to cup her face and with a gentle kiss to the side of his mouth she whispered reverently, "I finally have you, my One."

Dwalin's heart quickened, his eyes got moist. "And I you, my love."

With that, the two kissed for a little longer and got up with bright smiles on their faces. After getting dressed and clumsily picking up the mess of papers, pencils and bottles they'd made, the two got out of the empty exhibition room and left to their respective homes; both with the knowledge that something awesome had just transpired.

* * *

 _ **A/N2: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! Writing this was...awesome! I literally spent hours xD and I couldn't stop at all. Tell me what you think.**_


	9. Complications up ahead

_**A/N: Hello, welcome to chapter nine!**_

 _ **WARNINGS: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS, J.R.R TOLKIEN DOES. MAY CONTAIN TYPOS. XD ( I try, believe me, I do.)**_

* * *

Chapter nine: _Complications up ahead_

The day after the exhibition dawned bright and sunny. Birds were chirping, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, a nice breeze was gently caressing the green leaves of the majestic trees...and Ori Ri hated it.

She burrowed deeper into her covers, trying with every fiber of her being to just...go back to sleep. But the damned chirping birds and the annoyingly bright sun didn't allow her. The red head huffed, half pissed at nature and half pissed at herself. She just _had_ to go and get herself drunk last night. Now she had a mean headache (throbbing eyeballs and all), cotton mouth, a churning stomach, weak limbs and a pleasantly sore sex. A groan escaped her lips as she burrowed her face into her pillow trying to escape the teasing sun rays that were intent in shining directly into her eyes.

Damn it! 'Never again,' Ori vowed to herself. No matter how nervous she was, she was not going to drink her nerves away. There were better methods.

Her mind drifted, becoming pleasantly silent and for a long while she just lay there: thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Silence reigned for the longest of times and just when our dear protagonist was about to fall asleep her eyes suddenly snapped open wide. And so it was with a sudden movement that Ori jerked herself out from her bed (stumbling a few times when the world started to spin around her). After regaining her balance, she quickly made way to the full length mirror she rarely used in the corner of her room and upon seeing her reflection she nearly fainted as the implications reflected back at her hit her like a ton of bricks.

To start things off, her hair was a complete mess, as if hands had been constantly running through it. She was wearing the same dress she wore to the gallery and she noticed that it was incredibly rumpled. Her hands were stained with charcoal and her neck was peppered with a trail of bright red love bites. It was with a bright blush and slightly trembling, disbelieving fingers as she lowered the neck of her dress that she noticed two very important things.

One: the love bites covered not only her chest but also her breasts.

And two: she wasn't wearing any underwear.

The trembling intensified.

Ori sat down on the floor in front of the mirror for the longest of time.

Now, pondering about what happened the day before when you have a slight hangover was probably not the smartest of moves, but Ori nevertheless kept on forward. She 'needed' to know with whom had she done the deed although a small part of her mind knew just exactly with who, but she was never one to listen to the voices inside her head. Well, she actually has done that in the past, many times actually, but that is not the point!

The red head knew and acknowledged that although she did (and still does, mind you) want to have sex with Dwalin ever since their 'first dance' anything could happen when one was drunk. So in her books, it was better to make sure than to be uncertain. And so it was with a couple of more stumbles that our dear protagonist walked over to her bed and searched for her phone, once I bet hand she browsed to her contacts and, surprisingly enough found a contact she had not expected to find:

 ** _'DWALIN- STRIP CLUB'_**

Ori snorted in quiet disbelief. As if he had to put 'strip club' after his name for her to remember him. As if! The man was pretty unforgettable on his own, thank you very much, with his bald head and the many tattoos.

She pressed the call button.

 _"Ugh...What ya' want?"_ Came the gruff reply and Ori couldn't help but laugh, gone was the smoothness and the suaveness of his voice. Now he sounded like a very hung over and pissed off man.

"Well, good evening to you too. I just wanted you to answer a question for me, if that is alright with you?" Ori asked, her voice teasing.

 _"Ori?"_ The man at the other end asked hesitatingly.

"Yep! You know what, make it two questions."

The man chuckled and the sound of sheets rustling could be heard. Dwalin grunted slightly and then said, _"Ask away, then."_

"Right." The young woman gulped slightly, suddenly nervous. She didn't know which answer she wanted to hear, so she decided to ask the easiest question first. "How exactly is it that I have your phone number? I don't remember..."

The tattooed man chuckled in amusement. " _I nicked yer phone and added it, 'course. Ye should really put a pass code to yer phone. Any maniac can steal it and add 'is phone number with ye unaware."_

A snort escaped her mouth. "Of course. Noted."

Dwalin laughed and that was the most wonderful sound that Ori has ever heard in her life. Right there and then, I apologize my friends for this next line will sound corny and extremely cliché, she vowed to make him laugh as much as she was able. The man sighed and sobered up slightly, " _So, what was yer second question?"_

"Oh, right. You remembered that, lucky." Ori mumbled lowly and then, "I apologize for my bluntness but here it goes: did we have sex yesterday?"

Her question was met with silence. And that made her even more nervous. "Umm, it's just that I seemed to have forgotten my underwear somewhere and I was hoping you would enlighten me..."

 _"And here I thought I was the blunt one."_ Dwalin laughed a wonderful belly laugh that made the red head smile even though she was nervous. The man sighed and then said casually, " _Yeah, I have 'em. A nice pair of undies, 'course. I think Imma keep 'em. Can I keep 'em?"_

It took everything Ori had to not burst laughing at that. It was just such a thing Dwalin would say and it was so charming. "Sure you can keep it, it's all yours."

" _Yaay_ ~" the tattooed man cheered, making Ori laugh out loud this time.

"Hey, um, we should, you know, go out and talk things out." Ori suggested, crossing her fingers in the hopes that it didn't backfire on her rather badly. "Since, you know, we started things all wrong ever since the beginning and stuff, so I thought it'd be a good idea if we just-"

Dwalin chuckled softly, making the red head realize that she was babbling quite a lot. On the other side of the phone, Ori blushed quite badly and bit her lip, deciding that now that she had thrown the metaphorical ball it was his turn to 'bat it' somehow. (Ugh, stop it with the baseball puns, you're not good at them, Orianna.)

"YES!" came the quick reply. The man cleared his throat and then as casual as he could, "I mean, yeah. Sure, uhh, how about tonight at 8:00?"

Ori was beaming up at the wall as she answered, "8:00 sounds lovely."

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When Nori Ri was young he did a lot of crazy shit that got him, most of the time, either beat up or spending a couple of nights in jail. He did it all (not that his older brother or anyone else, for that matter, believed him) in order to provide his younger sister. Now most people would think, "Oh why doesn't he look for a decent job? He looks healthy enough to do so." Well, try saying that to the managers who didn't hire you for the lack of experience or because of your background. And so, as it is well known, desperate times call for desperate means.

So he joined a gang.

Now, he wasn't overly proud (at all, really) of the things he'd done in order to get money. He didn't think he will ever be proud of his past, but at least he was doing something back then. It wasn't clean and honest money, most of the times the money he brought home belonged to another or it was, metaphorically speaking, (sometimes not though) drenched in the blood of others but it helped keep his little family afloat.

With having such a life, came the harsh reality of it.

You made enemies; lots and lots of enemies. Heck, he had more enemies than friends!

Some of them hated him so much, that even after he had left that life behind and started with a decent job/life, they vowed to make his life miserable. And Nori could understand that. After all…he's done some pretty nasty shit to them; it was only natural that they wanted to get some retaliation. Most of the times, said retaliation came in the form of ambushed ganged beating, other times in threats but most of the times, they came in the form of bribes. It was because of all of this, that he was such a cautious man. He didn't trust easy, he was overly protective with his family and loved ones and he allowed no one to fuck him, or his family, up.

These days though, he'd like to think of himself as a changed man.

Ever since he had met Bofur and fallen in love with the man, he decided that it was time for a change. He didn't want to bring his One into his world, endanger him as he had his family. He wanted his One to see him as someone worthy. So he buried everything that made him a bad apple behind and decided to start anew. Since then, everything has been calm and happy and just wonderful. But Nori knew it was a matter of time before something bad happened.

A sigh escaped the second oldest Ri. Bofur, who had just finished reading a book on his side of the bed, looked at him with slight concern in his brown eyes and slightly pursed lips, "What is it, Nori? Thinking again?"

Nori sighed again but didn't even bother to hide his thoughts. "It's just too quiet, 'Fur, way too quiet actually. I guess…I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know?"

"Hey," Bofur scooted closer to his one and wrapped his arms around his brooding husband. "Just because you have a troubled past, doesn't mean that the rest of your life will be too. I know you're used to things always going to shit, sooner or later, but they will not. And if they do, well…you'll have me to help you through it."

The ex delinquent nodded, still not quite convinced but willing to at least give himself a change to become a little bit hopeful. "You're right. I'm just a paranoid old man now."

Bofur laughed, gently butting his head in agreement. "Yes, you are. Come on, let's go to sleep."

Sleep didn't come easy to the ex thief that night, for his mind kept on thinking. The man twisted and turned on his bed until he finally succumbed to restless sleep. A couple of minutes of sleep later, his phone started ringing and it was with a grumpy mumble, that he answered:

"Wha ya' wan? I', sleepin' 'ere."

 _"Nori! Nori, oh Mahal!"_

The sleepy man blinked his eyes a couple of times in shock when realizing that the panicked voice on the other end belonged to his oldest brother, Dori. He sat on his bed, a bad feeling twisting in the pit of his stomach, as he listened to his brother hyperventilate and sob hysterically on the other end. "Dori, what happened? WHAT HAPPENED? Are you okay? Is Ori okay?"

The usually composed man that was Dori sobbed even harder and Nori went cold. "Oh Mahal…Dori. Dori, tell me what happened. I-I can't help if you don't talk to me."

It took a while for his brother to calm down enough to speak and when he did, Nori's heart wanted to explode in his chest in dread. " _I-It's Ori…Nori, you got to come here. You got to make them pay. She—She—"_

"Them? Dori, what the fuck happened to Ori!?" the ex thief demanded loudly, making his One startle awake.

 _"O-Or-Ori is in the hospital. She g-got beat up p-p-pretty badly. Th-They don't know if she'll—if she'll make it. Mahal Nori, please…please, please come. I'm—I'm scared. I don't kn-know what to do."_ The eldest Ri managed to say before dissolving into a new round of sobs.

Nori, meanwhile answered mechanically, "It's okay, Dori. I'll be there as soon as I can," before hanging up. He rested his head on his hands, his green-ish eyes wide and unseeing as the words his brother had spoken echoed harshly on his head. He felt Bofur move closer to him, even distantly heard him ask something but he couldn't focus on anything, not when his baby sister (the very reason of his existence) was in between life and death.

"Nori, what's wrong?"

"She…might not make it." The thief said numbly, meeting the concerned eyes of his One.

Bofur widened his eyes at the sight of his One's crazed stare. "W-What? Who?"

"Ori. She—" the man gulped, his eyes filling with tears. "Oh Mahal. Bofur…my baby sister…she—she might die."

"W-What?" exclaimed Bofur, one of his hands over his mouth.

"I got to go, 'Fur! I got to see what happened, who did this to her!" the man threw himself out of his bed and quickly changed his clothes into something presentable. He grabbed his wallet, phones and keys and put on his shoes.

"I'm going with you!" Bofur said, throwing a shirt and the first pair of pants he saw on before hurrying after his very frantic husband.

 _Mahal have mercy on her. She's such a sweet girl, please let her live,_ was the thought that the couple kept thinking over and over again as they drove as fast as they could the many streets that separated them from their family members and their wounded sister.

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 **A/N: Were you expecting that? xD No? Well, TA-DAA! I am so sorry for the extremely late update, I was stuck and didn't know what to write. Hopefully it won't happen so soon after the chapter this time. Who knows...**


	10. Dreamland

_A/N: Hi, sorry for going MIA for a while. College happened._

 _Disclaimer: I do **not own** the characters of Mr. J.R.R Tolkien. I only own the plot here. _

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Chapter nine: Dreamland

Ori woke with a start, gasping for air as she looked around her in slight alarm. She was in was an unknown room, with big windows that let the warm air into the spacious room and bright; just as she preferred.

The sounds of birds, of wind and of the trees rustling in perfect timing with the wind were sounds that she loved, but at the moment unnerved her. For some reason, the whole scenario felt unnatural, as if this before her eyes were a different universe, a parallel world in which she had simply woken up in one day. She sighed tiredly, her thoughts were giving her a headache.

And so it was with a slight widening of her eyes, with which Ori looked down at her hands and noticed, for the first time since she's been awake, a beautiful ring snuggly hugging her ring finger.

She was married? With whom?

What was happening? Where was this place?

As soon as those thoughts appeared, the door of the room rattled and Ori got up from the comfortable bed cautiously. The door rattled once more and she caught the sound of stifled giggles from behind the door. Ori took a step forward, intent on throwing the door open and demanding to know where she was and why. But as soon as she did, take the step that is, the door was thrown open and two small blurs of red leaped at her, successfully tackling her onto the giant bed.

The two blurs were squeezing her tightly, talking on top of one another in what seemed to be excitement. Over the slight ruckus, Ori managed to hear a deep chuckle and her eyes snapped toward the source of the sound. Only for her mouth to drop open in shock.

Leaning against the now closed door was none other than Dwalin. He was bare chested and wearing pajama bottoms that rode deliciously low on his hips. A lopsided smile was etched on his mouth and his eyes were oh so bright. In his hands, the man was holding a big tray with what seemed to be breakfast, if the smells were to be trusted, of course.

Dwalin chuckled again, "Now kids, let ye' mum go. We wanna 'ave breakfas' don' we?"

The kids let go of her, only to settle on either side of her, both of them wearing huge smiles on their dimpled faces. "Good morning, ma'!" The two said as the same time.

"G-Good—Good morning." Ori somehow managed to stutter out, her eyes wide with shock. Her hazel eyes turned to Dwalin, whose smile dimmed a little bit, but he nevertheless kept on smiling at her lovingly.

"Seems that mummy need some help rememberin'. How 'bout ya introduce yerselves?" Dwalin asked the kids, who frowned playfully up at her.

"Silly ma', always forgetting." The boy, whose hair was as red as hers and had beautiful blue eyes said with a huge smile. "Hi mummy, my name is Kalin and I am six years old!"

She looked at Dwalin unsurely, who in turn nodded encouragingly.

What the heck was happening? She had kids? Two of them? Since when? Why didn't she remember marrying her One, or getting pregnant with these two little kids? Why? _Why_? "H-Hi, Kalin. You have a beautiful name."

The little boy smiled widely, threw himself at her and pressed a slightly sloppy kiss on her cheek. She couldn't help but smile at the adorable boy—her son—even though she was incredibly confused. Her attention was then diverted towards a very small girl who was nervously twiddling with her hands. She was looking up at her with intelligent and anxious green eyes and without thinking, Ori found herself picking the little girl up and settling her on her lap.

"And what is your name?"

"My name is Korinn, mum. I am six…you—you forgot again." The girl, Korinn, said with tearful eyes.

"I—I am sorry, Korinn. I—I will try my best to remember you, I promise you. Sorry…"

"It's okay, mama…It's not your fault." The little girl said with a small sniffle. Then she found herself engulfed in the arms of the two kids—her kids—and it was with a small panicked smile with which she hugged them back.

A clap startled the three of them.

They all turned to look at Dwalin, who was smiling lovingly at the three of them. "Now that introductions are outta the way, why don' we eat? I'm starvin'!"

The two kids, which Ori noticed with a shocked blink were twins, grinned and took a plate of syrupy pancakes. She hesitated for a few minutes, looking at the scene before her in slight trepidation. She _knew_ she didn't have a family, _knew_ that she hadn't married Dwalin and that never in her life had she imagined she'd have _twins_. She never wanted to.

She wanted to have a simple life.

Together with her One…Draw, have sex (lots of sex).

Just live happily.

When did this happen? When exactly did her desires change? Why now?

Someone cleared their throat, successfully snapping her out of her daze. Dwalin was looking at her worriedly. Ori smiled gently, reassuringly, before looking at the scene once more and taking a plate of pancakes for herself. Quietly she took a bite of the pancake and an excited little voice asked,

"Did you like it mummy? We helped pa' make them for you?"

Startled she looked at the two kids—her kids, she reminded herself—and swallowed before smiling widely. "You made this? Well, no wonder they taste very good! I can taste the love in them…thank you very much!"

The kids looked at each other and grinned widely. Ori chuckled at their antics.

Once they were all done with their food, the kids ran off to their room to do Mahal only knows what, while Ori and Dwalin continued to the kitchen in order to wash the dishes they've used. In a comfortable silence, the two quickly went about the cleaning of the dishes and when they were done, Dwalin spun her around and pressed her close. Gently, he pressed a kiss on Ori's forehead, smiling lovingly down at her.

"I love you, you know?" he murmured as he showered her face with tender kisses.

"Mhmm. I love you too, my One." Even though Ori felt as if she's said those words a lot, at least in her mind, there was a strange sensation in the back of her head, reminding her of the newness of the moment. Their lips finally met and for some strange reason, Ori felt as if it was different from the kisses they've shared. They felt strange…as if she was kissing a different Dwalin…As if the Dwalin she used to know had evolved into someone she barely recognized apart from the physical appearance.

Giggles came from behind them and Dwalin, raising an amused brow at her, turned around with a roar and proceeded to chase the kids around the living room. The aura of love and family and comfort settled over her and for the first time since she awoke, it felt _right_ , like she's always been here, even though deep down she knew she haven't.

Squeals of delight and laughter echoed in the empty halls of the house and for a second, Orianna Ri felt complete.

She found herself yearning for this, to be a part of a family one day, to _have_ a family of her own: to love, to take care of.

"Mama, mama! Come play with us!"

"Yeah, yeah, mama! Come, come! Pa' is the monster and you is the warrior miss."

Ori chuckled in amusement. "It's you _are_ , Korinn. And it's warrior, regardless of the sex, Kalin." After that, with a mischievous smile and a warrior like yell in the twins direction Ori pounced on Dwalin, tackling him to the floor. She then proceeded to tickle the life out of her One, making the usually serious man laugh out loud. The kids grinned and without hesitation jumped onto the vulnerable figure of Dwalin in order to tickle him too.

Soon enough, the four of them were laughing uncontrollably, tears of mirth running down their cheeks as they rolled onto their backs in order to catch their breath.

"That was fun!" Korinn exclaimed, clapping her small hands in delight.

"Yeh'…for ye was it fun. I was the one tortured by ye fiends!" Dwalin exclaimed in mock indignation.

"Papa, you were the monster! Of course we had to torture you!" Kalin exclaimed, crossing his arms across his chest.

Suddenly, white flashed before her eyes. Ori gasped, her body jerking painfully.

Dwalin quickly got up from the floor and gathered Ori into his arms.

The young woman groaned, there was pain everywhere. She couldn't breathe, it hurt doing so.

Someone on her side took her hand and tightened it around her comfortingly. It hurt, she groaned once more.

People were shouting, children were screaming, what they were saying indiscernible to her ears but the urgency and fear was tangible.

The lights were flashing above her, as if they were moving.

Suddenly, Nori's face appeared above her, looking down at her with eyes overflowing with tears. He was saying something but there were so many sensations around her, so much pain, breathlessness and so much sound that she couldn't quite catch what was said.

All she knew was that his eyes were frenzied. Crazed almost.

What was going on? What has happened? Why are you crying? Where was Dwalin and the kids? Were they okay? She wanted to ask so many things but it just hurt to much to breathe…to move…to be awake…

A man dressed in white appeared in her field of vision, looming over her with a severe frown marring his face. His lips were moving, saying something probably important, but the words were lost to her.

"Ori…Oh Mahal, Ori please don't go. Stay with us."

 _I will, I definitely will_ , she wanted to say to both her brothers and her little family, but before she could darkness finally overtook her, taking with it her pain, worries and the memory of those that were in great worry.

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 **A/N: Okay, so this is incredibly short, so I apologize for that. It is also completely different from what I had in mind, but I feel that this is good...Me thinks it is at least.**

 **Anyway, hopefully I will be able to update more regularly soon (Christmas break). In any case, let me know what you think by hitting that button down there that says "Review". I would appreciate it if you do, if you don't then...it's cool too.**

 **November 9th: Typos fixed for the most part. If you spot one let me know, okay? Stay strong, united and don't lose hope. CONTINGENCY PLANS AND CONSTANT VIGILANCE!**


	11. To Avenge the Wounded

_A/N: Hello after not so while ago. Guess what?! COLLEGE IS DONE! What does that mean? **MORE TIME TO WRITE!**_

 **Disclaimer:** I **do not** own the characters of Mr. Tolkien. I am merely toying with them for a while.

Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter eleven: Planning to Avenge the Wounded

Dwalin Fundin prided himself for being someone who always managed to keep his cool, especially in the times where everybody else was panicking.

It was one of the few qualities that he liked about himself, mostly because it allowed him to always be prepared. And being prepared for anything was something he was quite good at. As such, he liked to think there was not much that could shock him into behaving like he normally should; and he had learned to stay far away from the things that made him do so.

Having this said, he was completely unprepared for the wave of panic that hit him upon seeing his One beaten and bloody as the doctors rushed her to the operating room.

"Holy shit…" the man murmured, his strong hands shaking uncontrollably as his wide eyes stared at the door where his beloved had gone through. "Holy shit."

The people around him, all known faces to him, were crying, a look of wild worry etched onto their features as they tried to figure out what the fuck had happened to the shy girl that had wormed her way into their hearts.

Nori, who was the only one beside him that was not crying, was looking ashen; lips pressed into a tight line, knuckles white from the pressure he was putting on them and trembling. His eyes were wild, bright and angry as he silently stared at the worried face of his eldest brother. Dwalin wondered dimly whether the man was alright.

The tattooed man watched as Nori, in a most automatic way, took his phone out of his pocket and answered the call. He placed the phone to his ear and his face became hard with rage.

"You better fucking hide…Because I will find you and when I do, you will regret ever laying a hand on her."

It all took that one venomous statement to snap Dwalin, and everybody else, from their frenzied stupor. Nori snapped his phone shut and after a moment of complete stillness, threw the phone to the nearest wall with a yelled curse. Thorin, who happened to be closest to the man, stepped forward and asked with a cold voice,

"What do you know, Nori? Who was that on the phone? _What happened_?"

The ex-delinquent took a deep breath as he ran a calming hand through his messy hair. He looked around the small group of people that were all waiting for his answer and it was with a hard glance at Dori's direction that the man answered, voice cold, " _That_ was the bastard who beat Ori up. He—The fucker wanted to gloat. And I can't—I can't _let_ him get away with this. Dori I'll—Fuck!"

"You mean ta' tell me tha'," Dwalin said, anger filling his insides like never because—damn it! —no one hurt his One and got away with it! "Tha' sum' fucker did this ta' Ori ta'—ta' get back at ye'?"

Hard brown eyes met his and with a stiff nod the middle brother affirmed the statement. Bella and Bofur gasped, feeling horrified at the mere idea.

Silence reigned in the small waiting room for a long time. All of them thinking about what had been said, their mind reeling, their nerves heightening with every minute that passed.

An hour passed in silence, the minutes dragging on and on as they thought and prayed to Mahal for Ori's health and wellbeing.

After what felt like an eternity of complete helplessness and uncertainty, a small and ragged looking doctor came out of the door where Ori had disappeared through. The man, whose face was covered in wrinkles, gave nothing away and this made them all feel more nervous.

"The family of Orianna Ri?" they all stood and without little thought, they crowded around the slightly shocked doctor. The man composed himself rather quickly though, apparently used to having large groups of people in his presence. He cleared his throat and as professionally as he could, said, "Look, I'll be honest with you: it's bad. She has a fractured skull and a bad concussion. As such I, cannot say with certainty whether her memories will be intact when she wakes or if she will only suffer of a temporary lapse of memory. There are several bone fractures, three of them being her ribs and nose, there is also very bad bruising all over her body. We managed to control the internal bleeding caused by several strong blows to the abdominal area but as of now, she's in a very delicate position. We will continue to try and stabilize her, but the only thing left to do is wait and hope she wakes up with no major memory lapse."

Bella chocked, her gasp echoing in the deafening silence that the doctor's news brought. No one knew what to say or do for that matter and the doctor, who seemed to notice this, gave them a sympathetic look before going through the door once more.

Dori, who had been quietly crying, made a strangled sound, "A frac-fractured skull...? Oh Mahal...No. No, no, no. What have they done? What will we do, Nori? What if—what if she—fuck!"

Dwalin walked towards Nori and with a push, he had the seething man pinned to the nearest wall. They both glared at each other for a long while, completely ignoring the exclamation of their friends as they tried to break them apart. "What is tha' plan? Ye' 'ave a plan, I can see it in ye' eyes, a way ta' get back at those fuckers for hurting our Ori an' I wan' in."

"Nori, are you sure? It—It could be dangerous for you—for us. Do you want to risk that?" Bofur asked, wringing his hat nervously.

"Yeah…I am sure, 'Fur. It was stupid of me to think that they'll leave Orianna out of this whole mess and it backfired on me in the worst of ways. I don't—I _can't_ —stay here and do nothing. I _can't_ stand idle and watch as they tear my sister apart…"

"I want in." Thorin said, tightening his arms around the shivering and sniffling Bella.

Bofur nodded, his eyes alight with determination as he stared at his husband's form being pinned to the wall. With a huff, Dwalin let the man go. The man ran a hand through his bald head and sighed, his posture becoming one full of weariness.

Suddenly a wicked smile came to his lips and then he said, "Good, now we can beat 'em up real bad, too."

"Count me in." Dori said quietly, shocking everyone into silence.

And completely against his will, Nori found himself laughing hysterically because, well they were going to give them hell. And he was sure that they'd make sure those fuckers will regret ever touching Ori, even more so that Dori decided to join.

Oh! He couldn't wait to crash a bat against _that man's_ head and just kill him for all it was worth. But he needed to be patient. In any case, he was sure that the wait was going to make it even more worth it in the end.

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 **A/N: So, another short chapter. Sorry about that. Anyways, how did you like the chapter? Was it too angsty? Did you guys think that the injuries were too extreme or nah? In my head she got beat up pretty bad, like three dudes against Ori, but I'd also like to think that she at least managed to give at least one of her attackers a black eye, so yeah...Thank you so much for reading! Please review!**


	12. From Bad to Not-So-Bad

**A/N: Remember when I said that I had more time to write since uni was done? Well, I lied. I'm sorry. I actually spent all this time studying and then reading and procrastinating a LOT. Nevertheless, this is an "I'm deeply sorry, please forgive me chapter!" I hope you enjoy.**

 **A/N2: DISCLAIMER, I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS.**

 **WARNINGS: MAY CONTAIN TYPOS.**

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Chapter twelve: From Bad to Not-So-Bad

Time seemed to go excruciatingly slow for the Ri family and friends. So much, that by the time the fourth day after the phone incident rolled by, they were all ready to tear out their hair in frustration and worry. Ori, although recovering smoothly, had still not woken up—something that shook even the toughest of them all, because (damn it!) it was Ori. She was supposed to be up and about, worrying about school, reading books, drawing and looking at everything with those big hazel eyes of hers; not prostrated on a bed, black and blue from a beating that was not even meant for her.

Bella, whose bright disposition had dimmed considerably ever since, sniffled miserably. Thorin threw his arm around her. He couldn't really begin to understand how his One might be feeling. After all, the two were as close as sisters. He glanced over at the Ri family and noted that all of them were pale, gloomy and with big shadows under their eyes. They seemed frantic, which was understandable. If it were Fili and Kili, he was sure that he'd be dead with worry. His biggest worry, though, was his coworker and friend Dwalin. He wasn't talking—not that he talked much to begin with, mind—but it was still worrying. He wasn't going to work, which had Bifur worried and by the looks of it, the man wasn't sleeping at all. All in all, his friend looked lost, pale and a complete wreck.

His thoughts were interrupted briefly when a small doctor with a whisker like moustache came into the room and told them that Ori was awake and asking to see her family.

They all scrambled after the tiny doctor who was surprisingly quick when walking the sterilized halls. He stopped in front of the room 209 and with a gesture and a smile, allowed them entry.

-"Ori!"- the Ri brothers exclaimed when they burst into the room, making the red head wince slightly and smile groggily up at them. -"Oh Ori, we were so worried!"-

-"Sorry, 'bout that. Those—fuckers came outta nowhere. Tried to fight 'em, I really did, Dor'."—she said with misty eyes.

The eldest Ri nodded, tears running down his cheek as he gently cradled the bandaged hand of his sister. -"Shh, it's okay Ori. I am—we are so damn happy you're awake. We were all worried about you, so—" the man chocked up and decided to simply hold her hand gently, never taking his eyes off of her.

Nori wiped at his eyes, getting the tear tracks dry with the back of his hand. He took a few steps forward until Ori could focus on him. He then asked in an uncharacteristically serious face, -"What happened?"—

Ori winced slightly, but after a while decided to answer her brother. She knew that it was probably a matter of time before he knew—if he didn't know already, that is. So, she decided to answer honestly. "I was on my way to meet Dwalin at a small café we 'ave agreed on, when I was pulled into a side alley a block away from the place. There, a group of four men were smirking at me, the leader told me that although he wasn't fond of doing _this"_ —Ori gestured down at herself with a snarl on her face— "that he was only sending a message to you, Nori. After that, well you know."

Surprisingly it was Bella who reacted most violently to the story. It was one thing to hear it from Nori after the call from the bastard responsible, and another to hear it from the victim herself while seeing the consequence. Four men on one? –"What a bunch of cowards! Ori please tell me that you _at least_ managed to punch one guy! Please!"

Ori smirked widely, before wincing. –"Oh yeah, I did. It was not much though, but I'm sure that they'll remember me."— Dori immediately started to berate the young woman, who took it all with an indulging smile.

Dwalin's fists clenched ever so slightly, Bilbo noticed. She placed a small hand on his arms and asked tentatively, -"Dwalin, are you okay?"

The room went quiet. It was as if everyone remembered, at the same time, that Dwalin was in the room and has been deadly silent ever since. Dori patted his sister's hands and took a step back. The silence went on for minutes.

Suddenly,

-"Why didn't ye warn me?"—the man demanded quietly.

Ori was quiet. Allowing the man to express himself as he wished.

-"Ye…ye coul've sent me a sign through da' bond. I coul've—I coul've—"-

-"We…haven't finished the process for the bond to work that way, Dwalin."- Ori reminded gently, quietly.

The tattooed man looked down at his feet. -"I know. I jus' hated seeing ye so _lifeless_ , so broken…I could'na do nuthin' 'bout it an' it killed me. I—I'm sorry I could'na protect ye, Ori. I'm so sorry."-Everybody silently excused themselves, allowing the couple to have a moment of privacy. After all, they were each other's One, the rest of them could wait until they were alright.

Ori reached for the man, who hesitantly took her hand. –"My One, there was nothing you could do about this. You couldn't have known." - Dwalin made to speak, but the red head gently shushed him. -"I know you feel guilt, but I do not blame you for this. I know that you will protect me from _everything,_ but there was nothing any of us could've done to predict this."- She suddenly pouted, -"I was really looking forward to meeting you at the café, I even wore my lacy underwear."-

Unable to resist it, Dwalin chuckled, wiping the few tears that had escaped his eyes away. –"I woulda' loved to see tha', them panties I mean."—

-"I know."— Ori smirked saucily, as she pulled on the man's hand so he could be closer. –"Don't worry baby, I'll make it up to you."— She said and proceeded to lick his ear.

The man laughed loudly, gently taking the bruised woman into a hug. –"I'm looking forward fer tha'."—

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Alas dear readers, I shall take over from here. However unwillingly, might I add. (After the fiasco of the other time, who would ever want to come back here, I ask you.)

Nevertheless, let's move on—before the boss comes and finds me babbling here.

After countless nights of healing, hospital sex, joking and that one uncomfortable talk of "we had sex", "yeah, we did", a month passed and out dear protagonist was free to go to her home. Dwalin, who was adamant on leaving his One out of his sight, insisted that she come stay with him for a couple of nights. At least until she felt good enough to leave on her own. Or so he said.

Everybody else, though, knew that it was a weak excuse to keep the woman closer to him, which made Thorin and Bella high five each other. After all, their OTP has become cannon, sort of.

All in all, everything was well. Or was it really?

As of now, our favorite couple were lounging comfortably on the sofa, leaning against one another and enjoying the sun. Ori was lost in thought, remembering a dream that she had not so long ago.

-"Dwalin?"-

The man in question hummed.

-"In the hospital…I dreamt we had children. Twins. Korinn and Kalin."-

The man stared at her, seemingly frozen in place for a long while. And then, -"Twins?"-

-"Yeah."- Ori gulped. -"They were…beautiful, Dwalin. But—but I couldn't remember them. For some reason, I couldn't."-

-"Is okay, love."- Suddenly the man smirked. -"We could always make real ones, yes?"-

Wide eyes and not quite believing the words that were coming out of her One's mouth, she dumbly nodded and then laughed in slight incredulity. -"I can't believe you. We aren't even bonded, yet!"-

-"So?"- Dwalin shrugged. -"We don' 'ave ta' get married now. We can 'ave kids, make a fam'ly, be happy. But makin' a kid sounds like an interesting project."-

Our protagonist laughed as she slapped Dwalin's chest playfully. -"You're insatiable! You, Dwalin, are only interested in the sex, aren't you?"-

-"'Course not. It's a great incentive though."- The man said, moving his hips against her as he said so.

Ori moaned and leaned in for a kiss when frantic knocking interrupted the moment. The two looked at each other and wordlessly decided to ignore the door. After all, they had more important things to be doing than answering a freaking door.

Unfortunately, the knocking persisted. The second time, it came accompanied by the voice of Bella and the chuckling of Thorin.

They cursed their best friends to hell and back.

"Open the goddamn door, you two! I know you are in there!" This was Bella.

Thorin chuckled. "Stop having sex, this is actually important!"

Dwalin snarled and with clenched fists walked towards the door. He opened it with a fierce scow on his face, which only made Thorin laugh even harder. Bella, on the other time, brightened even more at this. "Sorry for the cockblock, Dwalin!" She passed by him and entered his apartment without even being invited. The tattooed man rolled his eyes heavenward.

"Mahal give me patience."

He let Thorin into his apartment and then asked the question that the horny couple had in mind since the knocking. "What do ye want?"

"Two things, really." Bella started, almost jumping on her seat in excitement.

"One: Nori is currently beating the shit out of the fucker who put you in the hospital, Ori. I came here to let Dwalin know in case you wanted a go at him too." As soon as Thorin said this, Dwalin got up and sprinted out of the apartment without a glance back. Thorin smirked at the two women and then told Bella, "Well, I'll leave you with the other news."

"Okay! Kick his balls for me, will you?"

With an affirmative sound, Thorin walked regally out of the apartment after his friend.

Bella then turned to her best friend ever, green eyes bright and with a huge smile coloring her face. Ori smiled back at her friend, unable to ignore the complete state of _bliss_ her almost sister seemed to be in. "Okay, what is it? Spill, Bella!"

"I'm pregnant!" the green-eyed woman squealed.

Suddenly, the two best friends were jumping around the living room as they celebrated the good news. Both of them screaming and clapping like demented seals occasionally.

* * *

 **A/N: What do you think? :D Take care guys.**


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